FROM  THE  LIBRARY  OF 
REV.   LOUIS    FITZGERALD    BENSON.  D.  D. 

BEQUEATHED   BY   HIM  TO 

THE   LIBRARY  OF 

PRINCETON  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


17  H 


BUREAU  OF  AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY 


BULLETIN  38     PLATE  I 


FEMALE    DANCING    IN     HULA    COSTUME 


//fo 


SMITHSONIAN  INSTITUTION 
BUREAU  OF  AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY 


Bulletin  38 


'm^'^ 


UNWRITTEN  LITERATURE 
OF  HAWAII 

THE  SACRED  SONGS  OF  THE  HULA 


COLLECTED    AND    TRANSLATED,     WITH 
NOTES  AND  AN  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  HULA 


By  NATHANIEL  B.  EMERSON,  A.  M.,  M.  D. 


WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT     PRINTING    OFFICE 

1909 


PREFATOEY  XOTE 

Previous  to  the  year  1906  the  researches  of  the  Bureau  were 
restricted  to  the  American  Indians,  but  by  act  of  Congress  approved 
June  30  of  that  year  the  scope  of  its  operations  was  extended  to 
include  the  natives  of  the  Hawaiian  islands.  Funds  were  not  specific- 
ally provided,  however,  for  prosecuting  investigations  among  these 
people,  and  in  the  absence  of  an  appropriation  for  this  purpose  it  was 
considered  inadvisable  to  restrict  the  systematic  investigations  among 
the  Indian  tribes  in  order  that  the  new  field  might  be  entered. 
Fortunateh^  the  publication  of  valuable  data  pertaining  to  Hawaii 
is  already  provided  for,  and  the  present  memoir  by  Doctor  Emerson 
is  the  first  of  the  Bureau's  Hawaiian  series.  It  is  expected  that  this 
Bulletin  will  be  followed  shortly  b}^  one  comprising  an  extended  list 
of  works  relating  to  Hawaii,  compiled  by  Prof.  H.  M.  Ballou  and 
Dr.  Cyrus  Thomas. 

W.  H.  Holmes, 

Chief. 


COXTENTS 

Page 

Introduction 7 

I.  The  hula 11 

II.  The  halau;  the  kuahu — their  decoration  and  consecration 14 

III.  The  gods  of  the  hula 23 

IV.  Support  and  organization  of  the  hula 26 

V.  Ceremonies  of  graduation;  debut  of  a  hula  dancer 31 

Vi.  The  password — the  song  of  admission 38 

VII.  Worship  at  the  altar  of  the  halau 42 

VIII.  Costume  of  the  hula  dancer 49 

IX.  The  hula  ald'a-papa 57 

X.  The  hula  pa-ipu,  or  kuolo 73 

XL-  The  hula  ki'i 91 

XII.  The  hula  pahu 103 

XIII.  The  hula  uliuli 107 

XIV.  The  hula  puili 113 

XV.  The  hula  ka-laau 116 

XVI.  The  hula  ili-ili 120 

XVII.  The  hula  kaekeeke 122 

XVIII.  An  intermission 126 

XIX.  The  hula  niau-kani 132 

XX.  The  hula  ohe 135 

XXI.  The  music  and  musical  instruments  of  the  Hawaiians 138 

XXII.  Gesture 176 

XXIII.  The  hula  pa-hua 183 

XXIV.  The  hula  Pele 186 

XXV.  The  hula  pa'i-umauma 202 

XXVI.  The  hula  ku'i  Molokai 207 

XXVII.  The  hula  kielei 210 

XXVIII.  The  hula  mu'u-mu'u 212 

XXIX.  The  hula  kolani 216 

XXX.  Thehulakolea 219 

XXXI.  The  hula  mano 221 

XXXII.  The  hula  ilio 223 

XXXIII.  The  hula  pua'a 228 

XXXIV.  The  hula  ohelo.. 233 

XXXV.  The  hula  kilu 235 

XXXVI.  The  hula  hoonansi 244 

XXXVII.  The  hula  uhli 246 

XXXVIII.  The  hula  o-niu 248 

XXXIX.  The  hula  ku'i 250 

XL.  TheoU 254 

XLI.  The  water  of  Kane 257 

XLII.  General  review 260 

Glossary 265 

Index 271 

5 


ILLlTSTRATIOISrS 

Page 

Plate  I.  Female  dancing  in  hula  costume Frontispiece 

II.  ie-fe  (Freycinetia  arnotti)  leaves  and  fruit 19 

III.  Hiila-p^pe  ( Dracaena aurea) 24 

IV.  Maile  (Alyxia  myrtillifolia)  wreath 32 

V.  Ti  ( Dracaena  terminalis) 44 

VI.  Ilima  (Sida  fallax),  lei  and  flowers 56 

VII.  Ipu  hula,  gourd  drum 73 

VIII.  Marionettes  (Maile-pakaha,  Nihi-au-moe) 91 

IX.  Marionette  (Maka-ku) 93 

X.  Pahu  hula,  hula  drum.. 103 

XI.  Uli-uli,  a  gourd  rattle 107 

XII.  Hawaiian  tree-shells  (Achatinella    *    *    *) 120 

XIII.  Lehua  ( Metrosideros  polymorpha)  flowers  and  leaves 126 

XIV.  Hawaiian  trumpet,  pu  ( Cassis  madagascarensis ) 131 

XV.  Woman  playing  on  the  nose-flute  (ohe-hano-ihu) 135 

XVI.  Pu-niu,  a  drum 142 

XVII.  Hawaiian  musician  playing  on  the  uku-lele 164 

XVIII.  Hala  fruit  bunch  and  drupe  with  a  "lei" 170 

XIX.  Pu  (Triton  tritonis) 172 

XX.  Phyllodia  and  true  leaves  of  the  koa  (Acacia  koa) 181 

XXI.  Pala-palai  ferns 194 

XXII.  Awa-puhi,  a  Hawaiian  ginger 210 

XXIII.  Hinano  hala 235 

XXIV.  Lady  dancing  the  hula  ku'i 250 

Figure  1.  Puili,  bamboo  rattle 113 

2.  Ka,  drumstick  for  pu-niu 142 

3.  Ohe-hano-ihu,  nose-flute 145 

MUSICAL  PIECES 

I.  Range  of  the  nose-flute — Eisner 146 

II.  Music  from  the  nose-flute — Eisner 146 

III.  The  ukeke  (as  played  by  Keaonaloa) — Eisner 149 

IV.  Song  from  the  hula  pa'i-umauma  — Berger 153 

V.  Song  from  the  hula  pa-ipu — Berger 153 

VI.  Song  for  the  hula  Pele — Berger 154 

VII.  Oli  and  mele  from  the  hula  ala'a-papa — Yarndley 156 

VIII.  He  Inoa  no  Kamehamehn — Byington 162 

IX.  Song,  Poll  Anuanu — Yarndley 164 

X.  Song,  IIua-huaH — Yarndley 166 

XI.  Song,  Ka  Mawae — Berger 167 

XII.  Song,  Like  no  a  Like — Berger 168 

XIII.  Song,  Pili  Aoao — Berger 169 

XIV.  JIawali  Ponoi — Berger 1 72 

ft 


INTRODUCTION 

This  book  is  for  the  greater  part  a  collection  of  Hawaiian  songs  and 
poetic  pieces  that  have  done  service  from  time  immemorial  as  the 
stock  supply  of  the  hula.  The  descriptive  portions  have  been  added, 
not  because  the  poetical  parts  could  not  stand  by  themselves,  but  to 
furnish  the  proper  setting  and  to  answer  the  questions  of  those  who 
want  to  know. 

Now,  the  hula  stood  for  very  much  to  the  ancient  Hawaiian;  it 
was  to  him  in  place  of  our  concert -hall  and  lecture-room,  our  opera 
and  theater,  and  thus  became  one  of  his  chief  means  of  social  enjoy- 
ment. Besides  this,  it  kept  the  communal  imagination  in  living 
touch  with  the  nation's  legendary  past.  The  hula  had  songs  proper 
to  itself,  but  it  found  a  mine  of  inexhaustible  wealth  in  the  epics 
and  wonder-myths  that  celebrated  the  doings  of  the  volcano  goddess 
Pele  and  her  compeers.  Thus  in  the  cantillations  of  the  old-time 
hula  we  find  a  ready-made  anthology  that  includes  every  species  of 
composition  in  the  whole  range  of  Hawaiian  poetry.  This  e])ic "  of 
Pele  was  chiefl}^  a  more  or  less  detached  series  of  poems  forming  a 
story  addressed  not  to  the  closet-reader,  but  to  the  eye  and  ear  and 
heart  of  the  assembled  chiefs  and  people;  and  it  was  sung.  The 
Hawaiian  song,  its  note  of  joy  par  excellence,  was  the  oli;  but  it  must 
be  noted  that  in  every  species  of  Hawaiian  poetry,  mele — whether 
epic  or  eulogy  or  prayer,  sounding  through  them  all  we  shall  find  the 
lyric  note. 

The  most  telling  record  of  a  people's  intimate  life  is  the  record 
which  it  unconsciously  makes  in  its  songs.  This  record  which  the 
Hawaiian  people  have  left  of  themselves  is  full  and  specific.  When, 
therefore,  we  ask  what  emotions  stirred  the  heart  of  the  old-time 
Hawaiian  as  he  approached  the  great  themes  of  life  and  death,  of 
ambition  and  jealousy,  of  sexual  passion,  of  romantic  love,  of  conjugal 
love,  and  parental  love,  what  his  attitude  toward  nature  and  i\\'\ 
dread  forces  of  earthquake  and  storm,  and  the  mysteries  of  spirit  and 
the  hereafter,  we  shall  find  our  answer  in  the  songs  and  prayers  and 
recitations  of  the  hula. 

The  hula,  it  is  true,  has  been  unfortunate  in  the  mode  and  manner 
of  its  introduction  to  us  moderns.  An  institution  of  divine,  that  is, 
religious,  origin,  the  hula  in  modern  times  has  wandered  so  far  and 
fallen  so  low  that  foreign  and  critical  esteem  has  come  to  associate  it 

^  It  might  be  termed  a  handful   of  lyrics  strung  on  an  epic  thread. 

7 


8  INTRODUCTION 

with  the  riotous  and  passionate  ebullitions  of  Polynesian  kings  and 
the  amorous  posturing  of  their  voluptuaries.  We  must  make  a  just 
distinction,  however,  between  the  gestures  and  bodily  contortions  pre- 
sented by  the  men  and  women,  the  actors  in  the  hula,  and  their 
uttered  words.  "  The  voice  is  Jacob's  voice,  but  the  hands  are  the 
hands  of  Esau."  In  truth,  the  actors  in  the  hula  no  longer  suit 
the  action  to  the  word.  The  utterance  harks  back  to  the  golden  age; 
the  gesture  is  trumped  up  by  the  passion  of  the  hour,  or  dictated 
by  the  master  of  the  hula,  to  whom  the  real  meaning  of  the  old  bards 
is  ofttimes  a  sealed  casket. 

AVhatever  indelicacy  attaches  in  modern  times  to  some  of  the  ges- 
tures and  contortions  of  the  hula  dancers,  the  old-time  hula  songs 
Ml  large  measure  were  untainted  with  grossness.  If  there  ever  were 
a  Polynesian  Arcadia,  and  if  it  were  possible  for  true  reports  of  the 
doings  and  sayings  of  the  Polynesians  to  reach  us  from  that  happy 
land — reports  of  their  joys  and  sorrows,  their  love-makings  and  their 
jealousies,  their  family  spats  and  reconciliations,  their  w^orship  of 
beauty  and  of  the  gods  and  goddesses  who  walked  in  the  garden  of 
beauty — we  may  say,  I  think,  that  such  a  report  would  be  in  substan- 
tial agreement  with  the  report  that  is  here  offered;  but,  if  one's  vir- 
tue will  not  endure  the  love-making  of  Arcadia,  let  him  banish  the 
myth  from  his  imagination  and  hie  to  a  convent  or  a  nunnery. 

If  this  book  does  nothing  more  than  prove  that  savages  are  only 
children  of  a  younger  growth  than  ourselves,  that  what  we  find  them 
to  have  been  we  ourselves — in  our  ancestors — once  v^ere,  the  labor  of 
making  it  w^ill  have  been  not  in  vain. 

For  an  account  of  the  first  hula  we  may  look  to  the  story  of  Pele. 
On  one  occasion  that  goddess  begged  her  sisters  to  dance  and  sing 
before  her,  but  they  all  excused  themselves,  saying  they  did  not  know 
the  art.  At  that  moment  in  came  little  Hiiaka,  the  youngest  and  the 
favorite.  Unknown  to  her  sisters,  the  little  maiden  had  practised  the 
dance  under  the  tuition  of  her  friend,  the  beautiful  but  ill-fated 
Hopoe.  "WTien  banteringly  invited  to  dance,  to  the  surprise  of  all, 
Hiiaka  modestly  complied.  The  wave-beaten  sand-beach  w^as  her 
floor,  the  open  air  her  hall.  Feet  and  hands  and  swaying  form  kept 
time  to  her  improvisation : 

Look,  Puna  is  a-dance  in  the  wind ; 

The  palm  groves  of  Kea-au  shaken. 

Haena  and  the  woman  Hopoe  dance  and  sing 

On  the  beach  Nana-huki, 

A  dance  of  purest  delight, 

Down  by  the  sea  Nana-huki. 

The  nature  of  this  w^ork  has  made  it  necessary  to  use  occasional 
Hawaiian  words  in  the  technical  parts.     At  their  first  introduction 


INTRODUCTION  9 

it  has  seemed  fitting  that  they  should  be  distinguished  by  italics; 
but,  once  given  the  entree,  it  is  assumed  that,  as  a  rule,  they  will  be 
granted  the  rights  of  free  speech  without  further  explanation. 

A  glossary,  which  explains  all  the  Hawaiian  words  used  in  the 
prose  text,  is  appended.  Let  no  one  imagine,  however,  that  by  the 
use  of  this  little  crutch  alone  he  will  be  enabled  to  walk  or  stumble 
through  the  foreign  ways  of  the  simplest  Hawaiian  7nele.  Notes, 
often  copious,  have  been  appended  to  many  of  the  mele,  designed 
to  exhaust  neither  the  subject  nor  the  reader,  but  to  answer  some 
of  the  questions  of  the  intelligent  thinker. 

Thanks,  many  thanks,  are  due,  first,  to  those  native  Hawaiians  who 
have  so  far  broken  with  the  old  superstitious  tradition  of  concealment 
as  to  unearth  so  much  of  the  unwritten  literary  wealth  stored  in 
Hawaiian  memories;  second,  to  those  who  have  kindly  contributed 
criticism,  suggestion,  material  at  the  different  stages  of  this  book's 
progress;  and,  lastly,  to  those  dear  friends  of  the  author's  youth — 
living  or  dead — whose  kindness  has  made  it  possible  to  send  out  this 
fledgling  to  the  world.  The  author  feels  under  special  obligations  to 
Dr.  Titus  Munson  Coan,  of  New  York,  for  a  painstaking  revision  of 
the  manuscript. 

Honolulu,  Hawaii. 


UISrWEITTEjSr  LITEEATURE  OF  HAWAII 
By  Nathaniel  B.  Emerson 


I.— THE  HULA 

One  turns  from  the  study  of  old  genealogies,  myths,  and  traditions 
of  the  Hawaiians  with  a  hungry  despair  at  finding  in  them  means 
so  small  for  picturing  the  people  themselves,  their  human  interests 
and  passions;  'but  when  it  comes  to  the  hula  and  the  whole  train  of 
feelings  and  sentiments  that  made  their  entrances  and  exits  in  the 
halau  (the  hall  of  the  hula)  one  perceives  that  in  this  he  has  found 
the  door  to  the  heart  of  the  people.  So  intimate  and  of  so  simple 
confidence  are  the  revelations  the  people  make  of  themselves  in  their 
songs  and  prattlings  that  when  one  undertakes  to  report  what  he  has 
heard  and  to  translate  into  the  terms  of  modern  speech  what  he  has 
received  in  confidence,  as  it  were,  he  almost  blushes,  as  if  he  had  been 
guilty  of  spying  on  Adam  and  Eve  in  their  nuptial  bower.  Alas,  if 
one  could  but  muffle  his  speech  with  the  unconscious  lisp  of  infancy, 
or  veil  and  tone  his  picture  to  correspond  to  the  perspective  of  an- 
tiquity, he  might  feel  at  least  that,  like  Watteau,  he  had  dealt  worth- 
ily, if  not  truly,  with  that  ideal  age  which  we  ever  think  of  as  the 
world's  garden  period. 

The  Hawaiians,  it  is  true,  were  many  removes  from  being  primi- 
tives ;  their  dreams,  however,  harked  back  to  a  period  that  was  close 
to  the  world's  infancy.  Their  remote  ancestry  was,  perhaps,  akin  to 
ours — Aryan,  at  least  Asiatic — but  the  orbit  of  their  evolution  seems 
to  have  led  them  away  from  the  strenuous  discipline  that  has  whipped 
the  Anglo-Saxon  branch  into  fighting  shape  with  fortune. 

If  one  comes  to  the  study  of  the  hula  and  its  songs  in  the  spirit 
of  a  censorious  moralist  he  will  find  nothing  for  him;  if  as  a  pure 
ethnologist,  he  will  take  pleasure  in  pointing  out  the  physical  re- 
semblances of  the  Hawaiian  dance  to  the  languorous  grace  of  the 
Naut<ch  girls,  of  the  geisha,  and  other  oriental  dancers.  But  if  he 
comes  as  a  student  and  lover  of  human  nature,  back  of  the  sensuous 
posturings,  in  the  emotional  language  of  the  songs  he  will  find  him- 
self entering  the  playground  of  the  human  race. 

The  hula  was  a  religious  service,  in  which  poetry,  music,  panto- 
mime, and  the  dance  lent  themselves,  under  the  forms  of  dramatic 

11 


12  BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

art.  to  the  refreshment  of  men's  minds.  Jts  view  of  life  was  idyllic, 
and  it  gave  itself  to  the  celebration  of  those  mythical  times  when 
gods  and  goddesses  moved  on  the  earth  as  men  and  women  and  when 
men  and  women  were  as  gods.  As  to  subject-matter,  its  warp  was 
spun  largely  from  the  bowels  of  the  old-time  mythology  into  cords 
through  which  the  race  maintained  vital  connection  with  its  mys- 
terious past.  Interwoven  with  these,  forming  the  woof,  were  threads 
of  a  thousand  hues  and  of  many  fabrics,  representing  the  imagina- 
tions of  the  poet,  the  speculations  of  the  philosopher,  the  aspirations 
of  many  a  thirsty  soul,  as  well  as  the  ravings  and  flame-colored 
pictures  of  the  sensualist,  the  mutterings  and  incantations  of  the 
kahuna^  the  mysteries  and  paraphernalia  of  Polynesian  mythology, 
the  annals  of  the  nation's  history — the  material,  in  fact,  which  in 
another  nation  and  under  dili'erent  circumstances  would  have  gone 
to  the  making  of  its  poetry,  its  drama,  its  opera,  its  literature. 

The  people  were  superstitiously  religious;  one  finds  their  drama 
saturated  with  religious  feeling,  hedged  about  with  tabu,  loaded 
down  with  prayer  and  sacrifice.  They  were  poetical;  nature  was 
full  of  voices  for  their  ears;  their  thoughts  came  to  them  as  im- 
ages; nature  was  to  them  an  allegory;  all  this  found  expression  in 
their  dramatic  art.  They  were  musical;  their  drama  must  needs  be 
cast  in  forms  to  suit  their  ideas  of  rhythm,  of  melody,  and  of  poetic 
harmony.  They  were,  moreover,  the  children  of  passion,  sensuous, 
worshipful  of  whatever  lends  itself  to  pleasure.  How,  then,  could 
the  dramatic  efforts  of  this  primitive  people,  still  in  the  bonds  of 
animalism,  escape  the  note  of  passion?  The  songs  and  other  poetic 
pieces  which  have  come  down  to  us  from  the  remotest  antiquity  are 
generally  inspired  with  a  purer  sentiment  and  a  loftier  purpose  than 
the  modern;  and  it  may  be  said  of  them  all  that  when  they  do  step 
into  the  mud  it  is  not  to  tarry  and  wallow  in  it ;  it  is  rather  with  the 
unconscious  naivete  of  a  child  thinking  no  evil. 

On  the  principle  of  "  the  terminal  conversion  of  opposites,"  which 
the  author  once  heard  an  old  philosopher  expound,  the  most  ad- 
vanced modern  is  better  able  to  hark  back  to  the  sweetness  and 
light  and  music  of  the  primeval  world  than  the  veriest  wigwam- 
dweller  that  ever  chipped  an  arrowhead.  It  is  not  so  much  what  the 
primitive  man  can  give  us  as  what  we  can  find  in  him  that  is  worth 
our  while.  The  light  that  a  Goethe,  a  Thoreau,  or  a  Kipling  can  pro- 
ject into  Arcadia  is  mirrored  in  his  own  nature. 

If  one  mistakes  not  the  temper  and  mind  of  this  generation,  we 
are  living  in  an  age  that  is  not  content  to  let  perish  one  seed  of 
thought  or  one  single  phase  of  life  that  can  be  rescued  from  the 
drift  of  time.  We  mourn  the  extinction  of  the  buffalo  of  the  plains 
and  of  the  birds  of  the  islands,  rightly  thinking  that  life  is  somewhat 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  13 

less  rich  and  full  without  them.  What  of  the  people  of  the  plains  and 
of  the  islands  of  the  sea?  Is  their  contribution  so  nothingless  that 
one  can  affirm  that  the  orbit  of  man's  mind  is  complete  without  it? 

Comparison  is  unavoidable  between  the  place  held  by  the  dance 
in  ancient  Hawaii  and  that  occupied  by  the  dance  in  our  modern 
society.  The  ancient  Hawaiians  did  not  personally  and  informally 
indulge  in  the  dance  for  their  own  amusement,  as  does  pleasure- 
loving  society  at  the  present  time.  Like  the  Shah  of  Persia,  but  for 
very  different  reasons,  Hawaiians  of  the  old  time  left  it  to  be  done 
for  them  by  a  body  of  trained  and  paid  performers.  This  was  not 
because  the  art  and  practice  of  the  hula  were  held  in  disrepute — 
quite  the  reverse — but  because  the  hula  was  an  accomplishment  re- 
quiring special  education  and  arduous  training  in  both  song  and 
dance,  and  more  especially  because  it  was  a  religious  matter,  to 
be  guarded  against  profanation  by  the  observance  of  tabus  and  the 
performance  of  priestly  rites. 

This  fact,  which  we  find  paralleled  in  every  form  of  communal 
amusement,  sport,  and  entertainment  in  ancient  Hawaii,  sheds  a 
strong  light  on  the  genius  of  the  Hawaiian.  We  are  wont  to  think  of 
the  old-time  Hawaiians  as  light-hearted  children  of  nature,  given 
to  spontaneous  outbursts  of  song  and  dance  as  the  mood  seized 
them;  quite  as  the  rustics  of  "  merrie  England"  joined  hands  and 
tripped  "  the  light  fantastic  toe  "  in  the  joyous  month  of  May  or 
shouted  the  harvest  home  at  a  later  season.  The  genius  of  the  Ha- 
waiian was  different.  With  him  the  dance  was  an  affair  of  premedi- 
tation, an  organized  effort,  guarded  by  the  traditions  of  a  somber 
religion.  And  this  characteristic,  with  qualifications,  will  be  found 
to  belong  to  popular  Hawaiian  sport  and  amusement  of  every  vari- 
ety. Exception  must  be  made,  of  course,  of  the  unorganized  sports 
of  childhood.  One  is  almost  inclined  to  generalize  and  to  say  that 
those  children  of  nature,  as  we  are  wont  to  call  them,  in  this  regard 
were  less  free  and  spontaneous  than  the  more  advanced  race  to  which 
we  are  proud  to  belong.  But  if  the  approaches  to  the  temple  of 
Terpsichore  with  them  were  more  guarded,  we  may  confidently 
assert  that  their  enjoyment  therein  was  deeper  and  more  abandoned. 


II.— THE   HALAU;   THE    KUAHU— THEIR   DECORATION 
AND  CONSECRATION 

The  Halau 

In  building  a  halau,  or  hall,  in  Avhich  to  perform  the  hula  a 
Hawaiian  of  the  old,  old  time  was  making  a  temple  for  his  god.  In 
later  and  degenerate  ages  almost  any  structure  would  serve  the  pur- 
pose ;  it  might  be  a  flimsy  shed  or  an  extemporaneous  lanai  such  as  is 
used  to  shelter  that  al  fresco  entertainment,  the  luau.  But  in  the  old 
times  of  strict  tabu  and  rigorous  etiquette,  when  the  chief  had  but  to 
lift  his  hand  and  the  entire  population  of  a  district  ransacked  plain, 
valley,  and  mountain  to  collect  the  poles,  beams,  thatch,  and  cord- 
stuff;  when  the  workers  were  so  numerous  that  the  structure  grew  and 
took  shape  in  a  day,  we  may  well  believe  that  ambitious  and  punc- 
tilious patrons  of  the  hula,  such  as  La'a,  Liloa,  or  Lono-i-ka-makahiki, 
did  not  allow  the  divine  art  of  Laka  to  house  in  a  barn. 

The  choice  of  a  site  was  a  matter  of  prime  importance.  A  formi- 
dable code  enunciated  the  principles  governing  the  selection.  But — 
a  matter  of  great  solicitude — there  were  omens  to  be  heeded,  snares 
and  pitfalls  devised  by  the  superstitious  mind  for  its  own  entangle- 
ment. The  untimely  sneeze,  the  ophthalmic  eye,  the  hunched  back 
were  omens  to  be  shunned. 

Within  historic  times,  since  the  abrogation  of  the  tabu  system  and 
the  loosening  of  the  old  polytheistic  ideas,  there  has  been  in  the  hula 
a  lowering  of  former  standards,  in  some  respects  a  degeneration. 
The  old  gods,  however,  were  not  entirely  dethroned ;  the  people  of  the 
hula  still  continued  to  maintain  the  form  of  divine  service  and  still 
appealed  to  them  for  good  luck;  but  the  soul  of  worship  had 
exhaled;  the  main  stud}^  now  was  to  make  of  the  hula  a  pecuniary 
success. 

In  an  important  sense  the  old  way  was  in  sympathy  with  the 
thought,  "Except  God  be  with  the  workmen,  they  labor  in  vain  that 
1)uild  the  house.''  The  means  for  gaining  divine  favor  and  averting 
the  frown  of  the  gods  were  those  practised  by  all  religionists  in  the 
infantile  state  of  the  human  mind — the  observance  of  fasts  and  tabus, 
the  offering  of  special  prayers  and  sacrifices.  The  ceremonial  purifi- 
cation of  the  site,  or  of  the  building  if  it  had  been  used  for  profane 
l^urposes,  was  accomplished  by  aspersions  with  sea  water  mixed  with 
turmeric  or  red  earth. 

14 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  15 

When  one  considers  the  tenacious  hold  which  all  rites  and  cere- 
monies growing  out  of  what  we  are  accustomed  to  call  superstitions 
had  on  the  mind  of  the  primitive  Hawaiian,  it  puzzles  one  to  account 
for  the  entire  dropping  out  from  modern  memory  of  the  prayers 
which  were  recited  during  the  erection  of  a  hall  for  the  shelter  of  an 
institution  so  festive  and  so  popular  as  the  hula,  while  the  prayers 
and  gloomy  ritual  of  the  temple  service  have  survived.  The  explana- 
tion may  be  found,  perhaps,  in  the  fact  that  the  priests  of  the  temple 
held  position  by  the  sovereign's  appointment;  they  formed  a  hier- 
archy by  themselves,  whereas  the  position  of  the  kumu-hula^  who  was 
also  a  priest,  was  open  to  anyone  who  fitted  himself  for  it  by  training 
and  study  and  by  passing  successfully  the  ai-lolo  ^  ordeal.  After  that 
he  had  the  right  to  approach  the  altar  of  the  hula  god  with  the  pre- 
scribed offerings  and  to  present  the  prayers  and  petitions  of  the  com- 
pany to  Laka  or  Kapo. 

In  pleasing  contrast  to  the  worship  of  the  heiau,  the  service  of  the 
hula  was  not  marred  by  the  presence  of  groaning  victims  and  bloody 
sacrifices.  Instead  we  find  the  offerings  to  have  been  mostly  rustic 
tokens,  things  entirely  consistent  with  light-heartedness,  joy,  and  ec- 
stasy of  devotion,  as  if  to  celebrate  the  fact  that  heaven  had  come 
down  to  earth  and  Pan,  Avith  all  the  nymphs,  was  dancing. 

During  the  time  the  halau  was  building  the  tabus  and  rules  that 
regulated  conduct  were  enforced  with  the  utmost  strictness.  The 
members  of  the  company  were  required  to  maintain  the  greatest  pro- 
priety of  demeanor,  to  suppress  all  rudeness  of  speech  and  manner, 
to  abstain  from  all  carnal  indulgence,  to  deny  themselves  specified 
articles  of  food,  and  above  all  to  avoid  contact  with  a  corpse.  If  any- 
one, even  by  accident,  suffered  such  defilement,  before  being  received 
again  into  fellowship  or  permitted  to  enter  the  halau  and  take  part 
in  the  exercises  he  must  have  ceremonial  cleansing  (huikala).  The 
kumu  offered  up  prayers,  sprinkled  the  offender  with  salt  water  and 
turmeric,  commanded  him  to  bathe  in  the  ocean,  and  he  was  clean. 
If  the  breach  of  discipline  was  gross  and  Avillful,  an  act  of  outrageous 
violence  or  the  neglect  of  tabu,  the  offender  could  be  restored  only 
after  penitence  and  confession. 

The  Kuahu 

In  every  halau  stood  the  kuahu^  or  altar,  as  the  visible  temporary 
abode  of  the  deity,  whose  presence  was  at  once  the  inspiration  of  the 
performance  and  the  luck-bringer  of  the  enterprise — a  rustic  frame 
embowered  in  greenery.  The  gathering  of  the  green  leaves  and  other 
sweet  finery  of  nature  for  its  construction  and  decoration  was  a  mat- 
ter of  so  great  importance  that  it  could  not  be  intrusted  to  any  chance 

'^Ai-lolo.     See  pp.  32,  34,  36. 


16  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

assemblage  of  wild  youth  who  might  see  fit  to  take  the  work  in  hand. 
There  were  formalities  that  must  be  observed,  songs  to  be  chanted, 
prayers  to  be  recited.  It  was  necessary  to  bear  in  mind  that  when 
one  deflowered  the  woods  of  their  fronds  of  ie-te  and  fern  or  tore 
the  trailing  lengths  of  maile — albeit  in  honor  of  Laka  herself — the 
body  of  the  goddess  was  being  despoiled,  and  the  despoiling  must  be 
done  with  all  tactful  grace  and  etiquette. 

It  must  not  be  gathered  from  this  that  the  occasion  was  made  sol- 
emn and  oppressive  with  weight  of  ceremony,  as  when  a  temple  was 
erected  or  as  when  a  tabu  chief  walked  abroad,  and  all  men  lay  with 
their  mouths  in  the  dust.  On  the  contrary,  it  was  a  time  of  joy  an 
decorous  exultation,  a  time  when  in  prayer-songs  and  ascriptions  o^ 
praise  the  poet  ransacked  all  nature  for  figures  and  allusions  to  be 
used  in  caressing  the  deity. 

The  following  adulatory  prayer  {kdnaende)  in  adoration  of 
Laka  was  recited  while  gathering  the  woodland  decorations  for  the 
altar.  It  is  worthy  of  preservation  for  its  intrinsic  beauty,  for  the 
spirit  of  trustfulness  it  breathes.  We  remark  the  petitions  it  utters 
for  the  growth  of  tree  and  shrub,  as  if  Laka  had  been  the  alma  mater 
under  whose  influence  all  nature  budded  and  rejoiced. 

It  would  seem  as  if  the  physical  ecstasy  of  the  dance  and  the  sen- 
suous joy  of  all  nature's  finery  had  breathed  their  spirit  into  the  as- 
piration and  that  the  beauty  of  leaf  and  flower,  all  of  them  familiar 
forms  of  the  god's  metamorphosis — accessible  to  their  touch  and  for 
the  regalement  of  their  senses — had  brought  such  nearness  and  dear- 
ness  of  affection  between  goddess  and  worshiper  that  all  fear  wa? 
removed. 

He  kdnaende  no  Laka 

A  ke  kua-hiwi,  i  ke  kua-lono, 
Ku  ana  o  Laka  i  ka  maima ; 
Noho  ana  o  Laka  i  ke  po'o  o  ka  ohu. 

0  Laka  kumu  bula, 

5        Nana  i  a'e  ka  wao-kele,<^ 

Kalii,  kalii  i  moli'a  i  ka  pua'a, 

1  ke  po'o  pua'a, 

He  pua'a  hiwa  na  Kane.* 

»  Wao'kdle.  That  portion  of  the  mountain  forest  where  grew  the  monarch  trees  was 
called  wao-kelc  or  wao-maukele. 

^Na  Kane.  Why  was  the  offering,  the  black  roast  porkling.  said  to  be  for  Kane,  who 
was  not  a  special  patron,  au-makua,  of  the  hula?  The  only  answer  the  author  has  been 
able  to  obtain  from  any  Hawaiian  is  that,  though  Kane  was  not  a  god  of  the  hula,  he  was 
a  near  relative.  On  reflection,  the  author  can  see  a  propriety  in  devoting  the  reeking 
flesh  of  the  swine  to  god  Kane,  while  to  the  sylvan  deity,  Laka,  goddess  of  the  peaceful 
hula,  were  devoted  the  rustic  offerings  that  were  the  embodiment  of  her  charms.  Her 
imago,  or  token — an  unciirvod  block  of  wood — was  set  up  in  n  prominent  part  of  the 
kuahu,  and  at  the  close  of  a  performance  the  wreaths  thai  bad  been  worn  by  the  actors 
were  draped  about  the  image.  Thus  viewed,  there  is  a  delicate  propriety  and  significance 
in  such  disposal  of  the  pig. 


EMEKSON]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE   OF    HAWAII  17 

He  kane  na  Laka, 
10        Na  ka  wahine  i  oni  a  kelakela  i  ka  lani : 

I  kupu  ke  a'a  i  ke  knmu, 

I  lau  a  puka  ka  mu'o, 

Ka  liko,  ka  ao  i-luna. 

Kupu  ka  lala,  bua  ma  ka  Hikina ; 
15        Kupu  ka  laau  ona  a  Maka-li'i," 

0  Maka-lei,^  laau  kaulana  mai  ka  Po  mai.*' 
Mai  ka  Po  mai  ka  oiaio — 

1  ho-i'o  i-luna,  i  o'o  i-luna. 

He  luna  au  e  ki'i  mai  nei  ia  oe,  e  Laka, 
20        E  ho'i  ke  ko-kua  ^  pa-ū ; 

He  la  uniki  ^  no  kaua ; 

Ha-ike-ike  ^^  o  ke  Akua  ; 

Hoike  ka  mana  o  ka  Wahine, 

O  Laka,  kaikuahine, 
25         Wahine  a  Lono  i  ka  ou-alii.^' 

E  Lono,  e  hu'  ^  ia  mai  ka  lani  me  ka  honua. 

Nou  okoa  Kukulu  o  Kahiki.* 

Me  ke  ano-ai  J  aloha,  e ! 

E  Ola,  e! 

'^  Maka-lVi  (Small  ej'es).  The  Pleiades;  also  the  period  of  six  months,  including  the 
rainy  season,  that  began  some  time  in  October  or  November  and  was  reckoned  from  the 
date  when  the  Pleiades  appeared  in  the  East  at  sunset.  Maka-li'i  was  also  the  name 
of  a  month,  by  some  reckoned  as  the  first  month  of  the  year. 

''  Maka-lei.  The  name  of  a  famous  mythological  tree  which  had  the  power  of  attracting 
fish.  It  did  not  poison,  but  only  bewitched  or  fascinated  them.  There  were  two  trees 
bearing  this  name,  one  a  male,  the  other  a  female,  which  both  grew  at  a  place  in  Hilo 
called  Pali-uli.  One  of  these,  the  female,  was,  according  to  tradition,  carried  from  its 
root  home  to  the  fish  ponds  in  Kailua,  Oahu,  for  the  purpose  of  attracting  fish  to  the 
neighboring  waters.     The  enterprise  was  eminently  successful. 

*■  Po.  Literally  night ;  the  period  in  cosmogony  when  darkness  and  chaos  reigned,  be- 
fore the  affairs  on  earth  had  become  settled  under  the  rule  of  the  gods.  Here  the  word 
is  used  to  indicate  a  period  of  remote  mythologic  antiquity.  The  use  of  the  word  Po 
in  the  following  verse  reminds  one  of  the  French  adage,  "La  nuit  porte  conseil." 

^  Kokua.  Another  form  for  kakua,  to  gird  on  the  pa-ii.      (See  Pa-ii  song,  pp.  51-53.) 

«  Uniki.  A  word  not  given  in  the  dictionary.  The  debut  of  an  actor  at  the  hula,  after 
passing  the  ai-īoīo  test  and  graduating  from  the  school  of  the  halau,  a  critical  event. 

f  Ha-ike-ike.  Equivalent  to  ho-ike-ike,  an  exhibition,  to  exhibit. 

0  Ou-alii.  The  Hawaiians  seem  to  have  lost  the  meaning  of  this  word.  The  author 
has  been  at  some  pains  to  work  it  out  somewhat  conjecturally. 

^E  Lono,  e  hu'  ia  mai,  etc.  The  unelided  form  of  the  word  hu'  would  be  7iui.  The 
final  i  is  dropped  before  the  similar  vowel  of  ia. 

^  Kukulu  o  Kahiki.  The  pillars  of  Kahiki.  The  ancient  Hawaiians  supposed  the 
starry  heavens  to  be  a  solid  dome  supported  by  a  wall  or  vertical  construction — kukulu — 
set  up  along  the  horizon.  That  section  of  the  wall  that  stood  over  against  Kahiki  they 
termed  Kukulu  o  Kahiki.  Our  geographical  name  Tahiti  is  of  course  from  Kahiki, 
though  it  does  not  apply  to  the  same  region.  After  the  close  of  what  has  been  termed 
"  the  period  of  intercourse,"  which  came  probably  during  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth 
centuries,  and  during  which  the  ancient  Hawaiians  voyaged  to  and  fro  between  Hawaii 
and  the  lands  of  the  South,  geographical  ideas  became  hazy  and  the  term  Kahiki  came 
to  be  applied  to  any  foreign  country. 

}  Āno-āi.  An  old  form  of  salutation,  answering  in  general  to  the  more  modern  word 
aloha,  much  used  at  the  present  time.  Ano-ai  seems  to  have  had  a  shade  of  meaning 
more  nearly  answering  to  our  word  "  welcome."  This  is  the  first  instance  the  author  has 
met  with  of  its  use  in  poetry. 

25352— BuU.  38—09 2 


18  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

[Translation] 
A  Prayer  of  Adulation  to  Laka 

In  the  forests,  on  the  ridges 

Of  the  mountains  stands  Laka ; 

Dwelling  in  the  source  of  the  mists. 

Laka,  mistress  of  the  hula, 
5         Has  climbed  the  wooded  haunts  of  the  gods, 

Altars  hallowed  by  the  sacrificial  swine, 

The  head  of  the  boar,  the  black  boar  of  Kane. 

A  partner  he  with  Laka ; 

Woman,  she  by  strife  gained  rank  in  heaven. 
10        That  the  root  may  grow  from  the  stem, 

That  the  young  shoot  may  put  forth  and  leaf. 

Pushing  up  the  fresh  enfolded  bud. 

The  scion-thrust  bud  and  fruit  toward  the  East, 

Like  the  tree  that  bewitches  the  winter  fish, 
15         Maka-lei,  tree  famed  from  the  age  of  night. 

Truth  is  the  counsel  of  night — 

May  it  fruit  and  ripen  above. 

A  messenger  I  bring  you,  O  Laka, 

To  the  girding  of  paū. 
20        An  opening  festa  this  for  thee  and  me; 

To  show  the  might  of  the  god. 

The  power  of  the  goddess, 

Of  Laka,  the  sister, 

To  Lono  a  wife  in  the  heavenly  courts. 
25         O  Lono,  join  heaven  and  earth ! 

Thine  alone  are  the  pillars  of  Kahiki. 

Warm  greeting,  beloved  one. 

We  hail  thee! 

The  cult  of  god  Lono  was  milder,  more  humane,  than  that  of  Kane 
and  the  other  major  gods.  No  human  sacrifices  were  offered  on  his 
altars.  The  statement  in  verse  26  accords  with  the  general  belief  of 
the  Hawaiians  that  Lono  dwelt  in  foreign  parts,  Kukulu  o  Kahiki^ 
and  that  he  would  some  time  come  to  them  from  across  the  waters. 
WTien  Captain  Cook  arrived  in  his  ships,  the  Hawaiians  worshiped 
him  as  the  god  Lono. 

The  following  song-prayer  also  is  one  that  was  used  at  the  gather- 
ing of  the  greenery  in  the  mountains  and  during  the  building  of  the 
altar  in  the  halau.  When  recited  in  the  halau  all  the  pupils  took 
part,  and  the  chorus  was  a  response  in  which  the  whole  assembly  in 
the  halau  were  expected  to  join : 

Puh'  KunJni  no  Laka 

Haki  pn  o  ka  nahelclielo. 
Haki  hana  maile  o  ka  wao, 


BUREAU  OF  AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY 


BULLETIN   38     PLATE   II 


(E-IE    (FREYCINETIA    ARNOTTh     LEAVES    AND    FRUIT 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  19 

Hooulu  ^  lei  ou,  o  Laka,  e ! 
O  Hiiaka  ^  ke  kaula  nana  e  hooulu  na  ma'i, 
5        A  aeae  a  ulu  ^  a  noho  i  kou  kuahu, 
Eia  ka  pule  la,  lie  pule  ola, 
He  noi  ola  nou,  e-e ! 

Chorus  : 
E  ola  ia  makou,  aohe  hala  ! 

[Translation] 
Altar-Prayer  to  Laka 

This  spoil  and  rape  of  the  wildwood, 
This  plucking  of  wilderness  maile — 
Collect  of  garlands,  Laka,  for  you. 
Hiiaka,  the  prophet,  heals  our  diseases. 
5         Enter,  possess,  inspire  your  altar; 
Heed  our  prayer,  'tis  for  life; 
Our  petition  to  you  is  for  life. 

Chorus: 
Give  us  life,  save  from  transgression ! 

The  wildwoods  of  Hawaii  furnished  in  great  abundance  and 
variety  small  poles  for  the  framework  of  the  kuahu,  the  altar,  the 
holy  place  of  the  halau,  and  sweet-scented  leaves  and  flowers  suitable 
for  its  decoration.  A  spirit  of  fitness,  however,  limited  choice  among 
these  to  certain  species  that  were  deemed  acceptable  to  the  goddess 
because  they  were  reckoned  as  among  her  favorite  forms  of  metamor- 
phosis. To  go  outside  this  ordained  and  traditional  range  would 
have  been  an  offense,  a  sacrilege.  This  critical  spirit  would  have 
looked  with  the  greatest  disfavor  on  the  practice  that  in  modern 
times  has  crept  in,  of  bedecking  the  dancers  with  garlands  of  roses, 
pinks,  jessamine,  and  other  nonindigenous  flowers,  as  being  utterly 
repugnant  to  the  traditional  spirit  of  the  hula. 

Among  decorations  approved  and  most  highly  esteemed  stood  pre- 
eminent the  fragrant  maile  (pi.  iv)  and  the  star-like  fronds  and  ruddy 
drupe  of  the  ie-ie  (pi.  ii)  and  its  kindred,  the  hdla-pepe  (pi.  iii) ;  the 
scarlet  pompons  of  the  lehua  (pi.  xiii)  and  oh^a^  with  the  fruit  of 
the  latter  (the  mountain-apple)  ;  many  varieties  of  fern,  including 
that  splendid  parasite,  the  "bird's  nest  fern"    (ekdha),  hailed  by 

"  Hoo-ulu.  This  word  has  a  considerable  range  of  meaning,  well  illustrated  in  this  mele. 
In  its  simplest  form,  ulii,  it  means  to  grow,  to  become  strong.  .Joined  with  the  causative 
hoo,  as  here,  it  taltes  on  the  spiritual  meaning  of  causing  to  prosper,  of  inspiring.  The 
word  "  collect,"  used  in  the  translation,  has  been  chosen  to  express  the  double  sense  of 
gathering  the  garlands  and  of  devoting  them  to  the  goddess  as  a  religious  offering.  In 
the  fourth  verse  this  word,  hooulu,  is  used  in  the  Sense  of  to  heal.     Compare  note  c. 

^Hiiaka.  The  youngest  sister  of  Pele,  often  spoken  of  as  Hiiaka-i-ka-poli-o-Pclc,  Hiiaka- 
of-the-bosom-of-Pele.  Why  she  should  be  spoken  of  as  capable  of  healing  diseases  is  not 
at  all  clear. 

"  Ulu.  Here  we  have  the  word  ulu  in  its  simple,  uncoinbiqe^  form,  meaning  to  ent^r 
into  and  inspire, 


20  BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

the  Hawaiians  as  Mawi's  paddle;  to  which  must  be  added  the  com- 
moner leaves  and  lemon-colored  flowers  of  the  native  hibiscus,  the 
hau^  the  breadfruit,  the  native  banana  and  the  dracsena  {ti)^  plate  v; 
and  lastly,  richest  of  all,  in  the  color  that  became  Hawaii's  favorite, 
the  royal  yellow  'dima  (pi.  vi),  a  flower  familiar  to  the  eyes  of  the 
tourist  to  Honolulu. 

While  deft  hands  are  building  and  weaving  the  light  framework 
of  the  kuahu,  binding  its  jDarts  with  strong  vines  and  decorating  it 
with  nature's  sumptuous  embroidery,  the  kumu^  or  teacher,  under 
the  inspiration  of  the  deity,  for  w^hose  residence  he  has  prepared 
himself  by  long  vigil  and  fasting  with  fleshly  abstinence,  having 
spent  the  previous  night  alone  in  the  halau,  is  chanting  or  cantillating 
his  adulatory  prayers,  kanaenae — songs  of  praise  they  seem  to  be- 
to  the  glorification  of  the  gods  and  goddesses  w^ho  are  invited  to 
bless  the  occasion  with  their  presence  and  inspiration,  but  especially 
of  that  one,  Laka,  whose  bodily  presence  is  symbolized  by  a  rude 
block  of  wood  arrayed  in  yellow  tapa  that  is  set  up  on  the  altar  itself. 
Thus  does  the  kumu  sing : 

Vide  Kuahu 
Ei'  au.  e  Laku  mai  iika, 
E  Laka  mai  kai ; 
O  hoonlii 

O  ka  ilio  ^  nana  e  hae, 
5         O  ka  maile  hihi  i  ka  wao, 
O  ka  lau-ki  ^  lei  o  ke  akua, 
O  na  ku'i  baiioli 
O  Ha'i-lia-manawa.<' 
O  Laka  oe, 
10        O  ke  akua  i  ke  kuahu  uei,  la ; 

E  ho*i,  ho'i  mai  a  noho  i  kou  kualiu ! 

[Translation] 

Altar-I'rai/cr    (to    I^aka) 

Here  am  I,  oil  Laka  from  tlie  mountains, 

Oh  Laka  from  the  shore; 

I'rotect  us 

Against  the  dog  that  barks; 

"  Ilio  nana  c  hae.  The  barking  of  a  dog,  the  crowing  of  a  cock,  the  grunting  of  a  pig, 
the  hooting  of  an  owl,  or  any  /;uch  sound  occurring  at  the  time  of  a  religious  solemnity, 
aha,  l)roke  the  spell  of  the  inrantation  and  vitiated  the  ceremony.  Such  an  untimely 
accident  was  as  much  deprecated  as  were  the  Turk,  the  Comet,  and  the  Devil  by  pious 
Christian  souls  during  the  Middle  Ages. 

'' Jjau-ki.  Tlip  leaf  of  Hie  11  plant — the  same  as  the  ki — (Dracaena  terminalis),  much 
u.sed  ns  an  emblem  of  divine  power,  a  charm  or  defense  against  malign  spiritual  influences. 
The  kahuna  often  wore  about  his  neck  a  tillel  of  this  leaf.  The  1i  leaf  was  a  special 
emblem  of  Ha'1-wahlne,  or  of  Li'a-wahlne.  It  was  much  used  as  a  decoration  about  the 
halau. 

<^  Ha'i-katnaiuiua.  Itls  conjectured  that  this  is  the  same  as  Ha'i-wahine,  She  was  a 
mythological  character,  about  whom  there  is  a  long  and  tragic  story. 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE   OF   HAWAII  21 

5         Reside  in  the  wild-twining  maile 
And  ttie  goddess-enwreatliing  ti. 
Ah,  the  joyful  pulses 
Of  the  woman  Ha'i-ka-manawa ! 
Thou  art  Laka, 
10        The  god  of  this  altar ; 

Return,  return,  abide  in  thy  shrine ! 

The  prayers  which  the  hula  folk  of  old  times  chanted  while  gather- 
ing the  material  in  the  woods  or  while  weaving  it  into  shape  in  the 
halaii  for  the  construction  of  a  shrine  did  not  form  a  rigid  liturgy; 
they  formed  rather  a  repertory  as  elastic  as  the  sighing  of  the  breeze, 
or  the  songs  of  the  birds  whose  notes  embroidered  the  pure  mountain 
air.  There  were  many  altar-prayers,  so  that  if  a  prayer  came  to  an 
end  before  the  work  was  done  the  priest  had  but  to  begin  the  recita- 
tion of  another  prayer,  or,  if  the  spirit  of  the  occasion  so  moved  him, 
he  would  take  up  again  a  prayer  already  repeated,  for  until  the  Avork 
was  entirely  accomplished  the  voice  of  prayer  must  continue  to  be 
heard. 

The  pule  now  to  be  given  seems  to  be  specially  suited  to  that  portion 
of  the  service  which  took  place  in  the  woods  at  the  gathering  of  the 
poles  and  greenery.  It  was  designed  specially  for  the  placating  of 
the  little  god-folk  who  from  their  number  were  addressed  as  Kini  o 
he  Akua^  the  multitude  of  the  little  gods,  and  who  were  the  counter- 
parts in  old  Hawaii  of  our  brownies,  elfins,  sprites,  kobolds,  gnomes, 
and  other  woodland  imps.  These  creatures,  though  dwarfish  and 
insignificant  in  person,  were  in  such  numbers — four  thousand,  forty 
thousand,  four  hundred  thousand — and  were  so  impatient  of  any 
invasion  of  their  territory,  so  jealous  of  their  prerogatives,  so  spiteful 
and  revengeful  when  injured,  that  it  was  policy  always  to  keep  on  the 
right  side  of  them. 

Pule  Kuahu 

E  hooulu  ana  i  Kini «  o  ke  Akua, 
Ka  lehu  o  ke  Akna, 
Ka  mano  o  ke  Akua, 
I  ka  pu-ku'i  o  ke  Akua, 
5         I  ka  lalani  Akua, 
la  ulu  mai  o  Kane, 
Ulu  o  Kanaloa ; 
Ulu  ka  ohia,  lau  ka  ie-ie; 
Ulu  ke  Akua,  noho  i  ke  kahua, 
10        A  a'ea'e,  a  ulu,  a  noho  kou  kuahu. 
Eia  ka  pule  la,  he  pule  ola. 

Chorus: 
E  ola  ana  oe! 

«  Kini  0  ke  Akua.     See  note  d,  p.  24. 


22  BUKEAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

[Translation] 

Altar-Prayer 

Invoke  we  now  the  four  thousand, 
The  myriads  four  of  the  nimble, 
The  four  hundred  thousand   elves. 
The  countless  host  of  sprites, 
5         Kank  ujton  rank  of  woodland  gods. 
I'ray,  Kane,  also  inspire  us ; 
Kanaloa,  too,  join  the  assembly. 
Now  jjrows  the  ohVa,  now  leafs  ie-ie; 
(iod  enters,  resides  in  the  place ; 
10         He  mounts,  inspires,  abides  in  the  shrine. 
This  is  our  prayer,  our  plea  this  for  life ! 

Chorus: 
Life  shall  l)e  thine! 

From  one  point  of  view  these  jnde  are  not  to  be  regarded  as  prayers 
in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  word,  but  rather  as  song-offerings,  verbal 
bouquets,  affectionate  sacrifices  to  the  gods. 


III.— THE  GODS  OF  THE  HULA 

Of  what  nature  were  the  gods  of  the  old  times,  and  how  did  the 
ancient  Hawaiians  conceive  of  them  ?  As  of  beings  having  the  form, 
the  powers,  and  the  passions  of  humanity,  yet  standing  above  and 
somewhat  apart  from  men.  One  sees,  as  through  a  mist,  darkly,  a 
figure,  standing,  moving;  in  shape  a  plant,  a  tree  or  vine-clad  stump, 
a  bird,  a  taloned  monster,  a  rock  carved  by  the  fire-queen,  a  human 
form,  a  puff  of  vapor — and  now  it  has  given  place  to  vacancy.  It 
was  a  goddess,  perhaps  of  the  hula.  In  the  solitude  of  the  wilder- 
ness one  meets  a  youthful  being  of  pleasing  address,  of  godlike  wit, 
of  elusive  beauty ;  the  charm  of  her  countenance  unspoken  authority, 
her  gesture  command.  She  seems  one  with  nature,  yet  commanding 
it.  Food  placed  before  her  remains  untasted ;  the  oven,  imu^^  in  which 
the  fascinated  host  has  heaped  his  abundance,  preparing  for  a  feast, 
when  opened  is  found  empty;  the  guest  of  an  hour  has  disappeared. 
Again  it  was  a  goddess,  perhaps  of  the  hula.  Or,  again,  a  traveler 
meets  a  creature  of  divine  beauty,  all  smiles  and  loveliness.  The  in- 
fatuated mortal,  smitten  with  hopeless  passion,  offers  blandishments ; 
he  finds  himself  by  the  roadside  embracing  a  rock.  It  was  a  goddess 
of  the  hula. 

The  gods,  great  and  small,  superior  and  inferior,  whom  the  devo- 
tees and  practitioners  of  the  hula  worshiped  and  sought  to  placate 
were  many ;  but  the  goddess  Laka  was  the  one  to  whom  they  offered 
special  prayers  and  sacrifices  and  to  whom  they  looked  as  the  patron, 
the  au-TYiakuaf  of  that  institution.  It  was  for  her  benefit  and  in  her 
honor  that  the  kuahu  was  set  up,  and  the  wealth  of  flower  and  leaf 
used  in  its  decoration  was  emblematic  of  her  beauty  and  glory,  a 
pledge  of  her  bodily  presence,  the  very  forms  that  she,  a  sylvan 
deity,  was  wont  to  assume  when  she  pleased  to  manifest  herself. 

As  an  additional  crutch  to  the  imagination  and  to  emphasize  the 
fact  of  her  real  presence  on  the  altar  which  she  had  been  invoked  to 
occupy  as  her  abode,  she  was  symbolized  by  an  uncarved  block  of 
wood  from  the  sacred  lama  ^  tree.  This  was  wrapped  in  a  robe  of 
choice  yellow  tapa,  scented  with  turmeric,  and  set  conspicuously  upon 
the  altar. 

"  Imu.  The  Hawaiian  oven,  which  was  a  hole  in  the  ground  lined  and  arched  over 
with    stones. 

^  Au-makua.  An  ancestral  god. 

«  Lama.  A  beautiful  tree  having  firm,  fine-grained,  white  wood  ;  used  in  making  sacred 
Inclosures  and  for  other  tabu  purposes. 

23 


24  BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

Laka  was  invoked  as  the  god  of  the  maile,  the  ie-ie,  and  other  wild- 
wood  growths  before  mentioned  (pi.  ii).  She  was  hailed  as  the 
"  sister,  wife,  of  god  Lono,"  as  "  the  one  who  by  striving  attained 
favor  with  the  gods  of  the  upper  ether;"  as  "  the  kumu  «  hula  " — head 
teacher  of  the  Terpsichorean  art;  "the  fount  of  joy;"  "the  prophet 
who  brings  health  to  the  sick;"  "  the  one  whose  presence  gives  life." 
In  one  of  the  prayers  to  Laka  she  is  besought  to  come  and  take  pos- 
session of  the  worshiper,  to  dwell  in  him  as  in  a  temple,  to  inspire 
•him  in  all  his  parts  and  faculties — voice,  hands,  feet,  the  whole  body. 

Laka  seems  to  have  been  a  friend,  but  not  a  relative,  of  the  numer- 
ous Pele  family.  So  far  as  the  author  has  observed,  the  fiery  goddess 
is  never  invited  to  grace  the  altar  Avith  her  presence,  nor  is  her  name 
so  much  as  mentioned  in  any  j^rayer  met  with. 

To  compare  the  gods  of  the  Hawaiian  pantheon  with  those  of 
classic  Greece,  the  sphere  occupied  by  Laka  corresponds  most  nearly 
to  that  filled  by  Terpsichore  and  Euterpe,  the  muses,  respectively,  of 
dance  and  of  song.  Lono,  in  one  song  spoken  of  as  the  husband  of 
Laka,  had  features  in  common  with  Apollo. 

That  other  gods,  Kane,  Ku,  Kanaloa,^  with  Lono,  Ku-pulupulu,*' 
and  the  whole  swarm  of  godlings  that  peopled  the  wildwood,  were 
also  invited  to  favor  the  performances  with  their  presence  can  be 
satisfactorily  explained  on  the  ground,  first,  that  all  the  gods  were  in 
a  sense  members  of  one  family,  related  to  each  other  by  intermarriage, 
if  not  by  the  ties  of  kinship;  and,  second,  by  the  patent  fact  of  that 
great  underlying  cause  of  bitterness  and  strife  among  immortals  as 
well  as  mortals,  jealousy.  It  would  have  been  an  eruptive  occasion 
of  heart-burning  and  scandal  if  by  any  mischance  a  privileged  one 
should  have  had  occasion  to  feel  slighted;  and  to  have  failed  in 
courtesy  to  that  countless  host  of  wilderness  imps  and  godlings,  the 
Kini  Akua,^  mischievous  and  irreverent  as  the  monke5^s  of  India, 
would  indeed  have  been  to  tempt  a  disaster. 

While  it  is  true  that  the  testimony  of  the  various  kiimu-hula, 
teachers  of  the  hula,  and  devotees  of  the  art  of  the  hula,  so  far  as  the 
author  has  talked  with  them,  has  been  overwhelmingly  to  the  effect 
that  Laka  was  the  one  and'  only  divine  patron  of  the  art  known  to 
them,  there  has  been  a  small  number  equally  ready  to  assert  that  there 
were  those  who  observed  the  cult  of  the  goddess  Kapo  and  worshiped 

"  Kumuhula.  The  teacher,  a  leader  and  priest  of  the  hula.  The  modern  school-mas- 
ter  Is   called    kumu-kulo. 

^  Kanaloa.  Kane.  Ku,  Knnaloa.  and  Lono  were  the  major  gods  of  the  Hawaiian  pan- 
theon. 

'•  Ku-pu1upulu.  A  god  of  the  canoe-makers. 

''Kini  Akun.  A  general  expression — often  used  together  with  the  ones  that  follow — 
meaning  the  countless  swarms  of  brownies,  elfs,  kobolds,  sprites,  and  other  godlings 
(mischievous  Imps»  that  peopled  the  wilderness.  Kini  means  literally  40,000,  lehu 
400.000,  and  inano  4,000.  See  the  Pule  A'Mf/7»u— altar-prayer — on  page  21.  The  Ha- 
wailan<<,  ctirlously  enough,  did  not  put  the  words  mano,  kini,  and  lehu  in  the  order  of 
their  numerical  value. 


BUREAU   OF  AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY 


BULLETIN   38     PLATE   III 


HALA-PEPE     ^DRAOENA    AUREA) 


EMEKSON]  UNWRITTEN    LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  25 

her  as  the  patron  of  the  hula.  The  positive  testimony  of  these  wit- 
nesses must  be  reckoned  as  of  more  weight  than  the  negative  testi- 
mony of  a  much  larger  number,  who  either  have  not  seen  or  will  not 
look  at  the  other  side  of  the  shield.  At  any  rate,  among  the  prayers 
before  the  kuahu,  of  which  there  are  others  yet  to  be  presented,  will  be 
found  several  addressed  to  Kapo  as  the  divine  patron  of  the  hula. 

Kapo  was  sister  of  Pele  and  the  daughter  of  Haumea.«  Among 
other  roles  played  by  her,  like  Laka  she  was  at  times  a  sylvan  deity, 
and  it  was  in  the  garb  of  woodland  representations  that  she  was 
worshiped  by  hula  folk.  Her  forms  of  activity,  corresponding  to 
her  different  metamorphoses,  were  numerous,  in  one  of  which  she  was 
at  times  "  employed  by  the  kahuna  ^  as  a  messenger  in  their  black 
arts,  and  she  is  claimed  by  many  as  an  aumakua^''  ^  said  to  be  the 
sister  of  Kalai-pahoa,  the  poison  god. 

Unfortunately  Kapo  had  an  evil  name  on  account  of  a  propensity 
which  led  her  at  times  to  commit  actions  that  seem  worthy  only  of  a 
demon  of  lewdness.  This  was,  however,  only  the  hysteria  of  a 
moment,  not  the  settled  habit  of  her  life.  On  one  notable  occasion, 
by  diverting  the  attention  of  the  bestial  pig-god  Kama-pua'a,  and  by 
vividly  presenting  to  him  a  temptation  well  adapted  to  his  gross 
nature,  she  succeeded  in  enticing  him  away  at  a  critical  moment,  and 
thus  rescued  her  sister  Pele  at  a  time  when  the  latter's  life  was 
imperiled  by  an  unclean  and  violent  assault  from  the  swine-god. 

Like  Catherine  of  Eussia,  who  in  one  mood  was  the  patron  of  liter- 
ature and  of  the  arts  and  sciences  and  in  another  mood  a  very  satyr, 
so  the  Hawaiian  goddess  Kapo  seems  to  have  lived  a  double  life 
whose  aims  were  at  cross  purposes  with  one  another — now  an  angel 
of  grace  and  beauty,  now  a  demon  of  darkness  and  lust. 

Do  we  not  find  in  this  the  counterpart  of  nature's  twofold  aspect, 
who  presents  herself  to  dependent  humanity  at  one  time  as  an  alma 
mater,  the  food-giver,  a  divinity  of  joy  and  comfort,  at  another  time 
as  the  demon  of  the  storm  and  earthquake,  a  plowshare  of  fiery 
destruction  ? 

The  name  of  Hiiaka,  the  sister  of  Pele,  is  one  often  mentioned  in 
the  prayers  of  the  hula. 

"  Haumea.  The  ancient  goddess,  or  ancestor,  the  sixth  in  line  of  descent  from  Wakea. 

'>  Kahuna.  A  sorcerer;  with  a  qualifying  adjective  it  meant  a  skilled  craftsman  ;  Kahuna- 
kalai-wa'a  was  a  canoe-builder  ;  kahuna   lapaau  was  a  medicine-man.  a  doctor,  etc. 

"  The  Lesser  Gods  of  Hawaii,  a  paper  by  Joseph  S.  Emerson,  read  before  the  Hawaiian 
Historical  Society,  April  7,  1892. 


IV.— SUPPORT   AND   ORGANIZATION   OF   THE   HULA 

In  ancient  times  the  hula  to  a  large  extent  was  a  creature  of  royal 
support,  and  for  good  reason.  The  actors  in  this  institution  were  not 
producers  of  life's  necessaries.  To  the  alii  belonged  the  land  and  the 
sea  and  all  the  useful  products  thereof.  Even  the  jetsam  whale-tooth 
and  wreckage  scraps  of  iron  that  ocean  cast  up  on  the  shore  were 
claimed  by  the  lord  of  the  land.  Everything  was  the  king's.  Thus 
it  followed  of  necessity  that  the  support  of  the  hula  must  in  the  end 
rest  upon  the  alii.  As  in  ancient  Rome  it  was  a  senator  or  general, 
enriched  by  the  spoil  of  a  province,  Avho  promoted  the  sports  of  the 
aiena,  so  in  ancient  Hawaii  it  was  the  chief  or  headman  of  the  district 
who  took  the  initiative  in  the  promotion  of  the  people's  communistic 
sports  and  of  the  hula. 

AVe  must  not  imagine  that  the  hula  was  a  thing  only  of  kings' 
courts  and  chiefish  residences.  It  had  another  and  democratic  side. 
The  passion  for  the  hula  was  broadspread.  If  other  agencies  failed 
to  meet  the  demand,  there  was  nothing  to  prevent  a  company  of 
enthusiasts  from  joining  themselves  together  in  the  pleasures  and, 
it  might  be,  the  profits  of  the  hula.  Their  spokesman — designated  as 
the  fo'o-'puaa^  from  the  fact  that  a  pig,  or  a  boar's  head,  was  required 
of  him  as  an  offering  at  the  kuahu — was  authorized  to  secure  the 
services  of  some  expert  to  be  their  kumu.  But  with  the  hula  all  roads 
lead  to  the  king's  court. 

Let  us  imagine  a  scene  at  the  king's  residence.  The  alii,  rousing 
from  his  sloth  and  rubbing  his  eyes,  rheumy  with  debauch  and  awa^ 
overhears  remark  on  the  doings  of  a  new  company  of  hula  dancers 
who  have  come  into  the  neighborhood.  He  summons  his  chief 
steward. 

''  What  is  this  new  thing  of  which  they  babble?"  he  demands. 

"  It  is  nothing,  son  of  heaven,''  answers  the  kneeling  steward. 

"  They  spoke  of  a  hula.    Tell  me,  what  is  it  ?'' 

"Ah,  thou  heaven-born  (lani),  it  was  but  a  trifle — a  new  company, 
young  graduates  of  the  halau,  have  set  themselves  up  as  great  ones; 
mere  rustics;  they  have  no  proper  acquaintance  with  the  traditions 
of  the  art  as  taught  by  the  l)ards  of  *  *  *  your  majesty's  father. 
They  mouth  and  twist  the  old  songs  all  awry,  thou  son  of  heaven." 

"  Enough.     I  will  hear  them  to-morrow.     Send  a  messenger  for 
this  new  kumu.    Fill  again  my  bowl  with  awa." 
26 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE   OF    HAWAII  27 

Thus  it  comes  about  that  the  new  hula  company  gains  audience  at 
court  and  walks  the  road  that,  perchance,  leads  to  fortune.  Success 
to  the  men  and  AA^omen  of  the  hula  means  not  merely  applause,  in 
return  for  the  incense  of  flattery ;  it  means  also  a  shower  of  substantial 
favors — food,  garments,  the  smile  of  royalty,  perhaps  land — things 
that  make  life  a  festival.  If  welcome  grows  cold  and  it  becomes  evi- 
dent that  the  harvest  has  been  reaped,  they  move  on  to  fresh  woods 
and  pastures  new. 

To  return  from  this  apparent  digression,  it  was  at  the  king's  court — 
if  we  may  extend  the  courtesy  of  this  phrase  to  a  group  of  thatched 
houses — that  were  gathered  the  bards  and  those  skilled  in  song,  those 
in  whose  memories  were  stored  the  mythologies,  traditions,  geneal- 
ogies, proverbial  wisdom,  and  poetry  that,  warmed  by  emotion,  was 
the  stuff  from  which  was  spun  the  songs  of  the  hula.  As  fire  is  pro- 
duced by  friction,  so  it  was  often  by  the  congress  of  wits  rather  than 
by  the  flashing  of  genius  that  the  songs  of  the  hula  were  evolved. 

The  composition  and  criticism  of  a  poetical  passage  were  a  matter 
of  high  importance,  often  requiring  many  suggestions  and  much 
consultation.  If  the  poem  was  to  be  a  mele-inoa^  a  name-song  to 
eulogize  some  royal  or  princely  scion,  it  must  contain  no  word  of 
ill-omen.  The  fate-compelling  power  of  such  a  word,  once  shot  from 
the  mouth,  was  beyond  recall.  Like  the  incantation  of  the  sorcerer, 
the  kahuna  dnaand,  it  meant  death  to  the  eulogized  one.  If  not,  it 
recoiled  on  the  life  of  the  singer. 

The  verbal  form  once  settled,  it  remained  only  to  stereotype  it  on 
the  memories  of  the  men  and  women  who  constituted  the  literar}^ 
court  or  conclave.  Think  not  that  only  thus  were  poems  produced 
in  ancient  Hawaii.  The  great  majority  of  songs  were  probably  the 
fruit  of  solitary  inspiration,  in  which  the  bard  poured  out  his  heart 
like  a  song-bird,  or  uttered  his  lone  vision  as  a  seer.  The  method  of 
poem  production  in  conclave  may  be  termed  the  official  method.  It 
was  often  done  at  the  command  of  an  alii.  So  much  for  the  fabri- 
cation, the  weaving,  of  a  song. 

If  the  composition  was  intended  as  a  eulogy,  it  was  cantillated  cere- 
moniously before  the  one  it  honored;  if  in  anticipation  of  a  prince 
yet  unborn,  it  was  daily  recited  before  the  mother  until  the  hour  of  her 
delivery;  and  this  cantillation  published  it  abroad.  If  the  song  was 
for  production  in  the  hula,  it  lay  warm  in  the  mind  of  the  kumu, 
the  master  and  teacher  of  the  hula,  until  such  time  as  he  had  organ- 
ized his  company. 

The  court  of  the  alii  was  a  vortex  that  drew  in  not  only  the  bards 
and  men  of  lore,  but  the  gay  and  fashionable  rout  of  pleasure-seekers, 
the  young  men  and  women  of  shapely  form  and  gracious  presence, 
the  sons  and  daughters  of  the  king's  henchmen  and  favorites ;  among 


28  BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

them,  perhaps,  tlio  offspring  of  the  king's  morganatic  alliances  and 
amours — the  flower  and  pick  of  Hawaii's  youth.  From  these  the 
kuniu  selected  those  most  fitted  by  beauty  and  grace  of  form,  as  well 
as  (juickness  of  wit  and  liveliness  of  imagination,  to  take  part  in 
the  hula. 

The  performers  in  the  hula  were  divided  into  tw^o  classes,  the 
olapa — agile  ones — and  the  ho\)-paa — steadfast  ones.  The  role  of 
olapa,  as  was  fitting,  was  assigned  to  the  young  men  and  young 
women  who  could  best  illustrate  in  their  persons  the  grace  and  beauty 
of  the  human  form.  Tt  was  theirs,  sometimes  while  singing,  to  move 
and  pose  and  gesture  in  the  dance;  sometimes  also  to  punctuate  their 
song  and  action  with  the  lighter  instruments  of  music.  The  role  of 
ho"o-paa,  cm  the  other  hand,  was  given  to  men  and  w^omen  of  greater 
experience  and  of  more  maturity.  They  handled  the  heavier  instru-' 
ments  and  played  their  parts  mostly  w^hile  sitting  or  kneeling,  mark- 
ing the  time  with  their  instrumentation.  They  also  lent  their  voices 
i^  swell  the  chorus  or  utter  the  refrain  of  certain  songs,  sometimes 
taking  the  lead  in  the  song  or  bearing  its  whole  burden,  ^vhile  the 
light-footed  olapa  gave  themselves  entirely  to  the  dance.  The  part 
of  the  ho'o-paa  was  indeed  the  heavier,  the  more  exacting  duty. 

Such  w\is  the  personnel  of  a  hula  troupe  when  first  gathered  by 
the  hula-master  for  training  and  drill  in  the  halau,  now  become  a 
school  for  the  hula.  Among  the  pupils  the  kumu  w^as  sure  to  find 
some  old  hands  at  the  business,  whose  presence,  like  that  of  veterans 
in  a  squad  of  recruits,  was  a  leaven  to  inspire  the  wdiole  company 
w^th  due  respect  for  the  spirit  and  traditions  of  the  historic  institu- 
tion and  to  breed  in  the  members  the  patience  necessary  to  bring  them 
to  the  highest  proficiency. 

The  instruction  of  the  kumu,  as  we  are  informed,  took  a  wide 
range.  Tt  dealt  in  elaborate  detail  on  such  matters  as  accent,  in- 
flection, and  all  that  concerns  utterance  and  vocalization.  It  natu- 
rally paid  great  attention  to  gesture  and  pose,  attitude  and  bodily 
action.  That  it  included  comment  on  the  meaning  that  lay  back  of 
the  words  may  be  gravely  doubted.  The  average  hula  dancer  of 
modern  times  shows  great  ignorance  of  the  mele  he  recites,  and  this 
is  true  even  of  the  kunni-hula.  His  work  too  often  is  largely  per- 
functory, a  nuitter  of  sound  and  form,  without  appeal  to  the  intel- 
lect. 

It  would  not  be  legitimate,  however,  to  conclude  from  this  that 
ignorance  of  the  meaning  was  the  rule  in  old  times;  those  were  the 
days  when  the  nation's  traditional  songs,  myths,  and  lore  formed  the 
equipment  of  every  alert  and  receptive  mind,  chief  or  commoner. 
There  was  no  printed  page  to  while  away  the  hours  of  idleness. 
The  library  was  stored  in  one's  memory.  The  language  of  the  mele, 
which  now  has  become  anti(iuated,  then  was  familiar  speech.    For  a 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  29 

kumu-hula  to  have  given  instruction  in  the  meaning  of  a  song  would 
have  been  a  superfluity,  as  if  one  at  the  present  day  were  to  inform 
a  group  of  well-educated  actors  and  actresses  who  was  Pompey  or 
Julius  Caesar. 

"Speak  the  speech,  I  pray  you,  as  I  pronounced  it  to  you,  trip- 
pingly on  the  tongue."  Hamlet's  words  to  the  players  were,  it  may 
be  supposed,  the.  substance  of  the  kumu's  instructions  to  the  pupils 
in  his  halau. 

The  organization  of  a  hula  company  was  largely  democratic.  The 
kumu — in  modern  sense,  the  teacher — was  the  leader  and  conductor, 
responsible  for  the  training  and  discipline  of  the  company.  He  was 
the  business  manager  of  the  enterprise ;  the  priest,  kahuna^  the  leader 
in  the  religious  exercises,  the  one  who  interpreted  the  will  of  heaven, 
especially  of  the  gods  whose  favor  determined  success.  He  might 
be  called  to  his  position  by  the  choice  of  the  company,  appointed  by 
the  command  of  the  alii  who  promoted  the  enterprise,  or  self -elected 
in  case  the  enterprise  was  his  own.  He  had  under  him  a  kokua  kumii^ 
a  deputy,  who  took  charge  during  his  absence. 

The  po*o-puaa  was  an  officer  chosen  by  the  pupils  to  be  their  spe- 
cial agent  and  mouthpiece.  He  saw  to  the  execution  of  the  kiimu's 
judgments  and  commands,  collected  the  fines,  and  exacted  the  penal- 
ties imposed  by  the  kumu.  It  fell  to  him  to  convey  to  the  altar  the 
presents  of  garlands,  awa,  and  the  like  that  were  contributed  to  the 
halau. 

The  paepae^  also  chosen  by  the  pupils,  subject  to  confirmation  by 
the  kumu,  acted  as  an  assistant  of  the  po'o-puaa.  During  the  con- 
struction of  the  kuahu  the  po'o-puaa  stood  to  the  right,  the  paepae 
at  his  left.     They  were  in  a  general  sense  guardians  of  the  kuahu. 

The  ho'o-vlu  was  the  guard  stationed  at  the  door.  He  sprinkled 
with  sea-water  mixed  with  turmeric  everyone  who  entered  the  halau. 
He  also  acted  as  sergeant-at-arms  to  keep  order  and  remove  anyone 
who  made  a  disturbance.  It  was  his  duty  each  day  to  place  a  fresh 
bowl  of  awa  on  the  altar  of  the  goddess  {hanai  kuahu) ^  literally  to 
feed  the  altar. 

In  addition  to  these  officials,  a  hula  company  naturally  required 
the  services  of  a  miscellaneous  retinue  of  stewards,  cooks,  fishermen, 
hewers  of  wood,  and  drawers  of  water. 

Rules  of  Conduct  and  Tabus 

Without  a  body  of  rules,  a  strict  penal  code,  and  a  firm  hand  to 
hold  in  check  the  hot  bloods  of  both  sexes,  it  would  have  been  impos- 
sible to  keep  order  and  to  accomplish  the  business  purpose  of  the  or- 
ganization. The  explosive  force  of  passion  would  have  made  the 
gathering  a  signal  for  the  breaking  loose  of  pandemonium.  That  it 
did  not  always  so  result  is  a  compliment  alike  to  the  self-restraint  of 


30  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

the  people  and  to  the  sway  that  artistic  ideals  held  over  their  minds, 
but,  above  all,  to  a  peculiar  system  of  discipline  wisely  adapted  to  the 
necessities  of  human  nature.  It  does  not  seem  likely  that  a  Thespian 
band  of  our  own  race  would  have  held  their  passions  under  equal 
check  if  surrounded  by  the  same  temptations  and  given  the  same  op- 
portunities as  these  Polynesians.  It  may  well  be  doubted  if  the  bare 
authority  of  the  kumu  would  have  sufficed  to  maintain  discipline  and 
to  keep  order,  had  it  not  been  reenforced  by  the  dread  powers  of  the 
spirit  world  in  the  shape  of  the  tahii. 

The  awful  grasp  of  this  law,  this  repressive  force,  the  tabu,  held 
fast  the  student  from  the  moment  of  his  entrance  into  the  halau.  It 
denied  this  pleasure,  shut  off  that  innocent  indulgence,  curtailed 
liberty  in  this  direction  and  in  that.  The  tabu  waved  before  his 
imagination  like  a  flaming  sword,  barring  approach  to  the  Eden  of 
his  strongest  propensity. 

The  rules  and  discipline  of  the  halau,  the  school  for  the  hula,  from 
our  point  of  view,  were  a  mixture  of  shrewd  common  sense  and  whim- 
sical superstition.  Under  the  head  of  tabus  certain  articles  of  food 
were  denied  ;  for  instance,  the  sugar-cane — ko — was  forbidden.  The 
reason  assigned  was  that  if  one  indulged  in  it  his  work  as  a  practi- 
tioner Avould  amount  to  nothing;  in  the  language  of  the  kumu,  aohe 
c  1x0  ana  I'ana  mav  hana^  his  work  will  be  a  failure.  The  argument 
turned  on  the  double  meaning  of  the  word  ko^  the  first  meaning  being 
sugar  cane,  the  second,  accomplishment.  The  Hawaiians  were  much 
impressed  by  such  whimsical  nominalisms.  Yet  there  is  a  backing  of 
good  sense  to  the  rule.  Anyone  who  has  chewed  the  sweet  stalk  can 
testify  that  for  some  time  thereafter  his  voice  is  rough,  ill-fitted  for 
singing  or  elocution. 

The  strictest  propriety  and  decorum  were  exacted  of  the  pupils; 
there  must  be  no  license  whatever.  Even  married  people  during  the 
weeks  preceding  graduation  must  observe  abstinence  toward  their 
partners.  The  whole  power  of  one's  being  must  be  devoted  to  the 
pursuit  of  art. 

The  rules  demanded  also  the  most  punctilious  personal  cleanliness. 
Above  all  things,  one  must  avoid  contact  with  a  corpse.  Such  defile- 
ment barred  one  from  entrance  to  the  halau  until  ceremonial  cleansing 
had  been  performed.  The  offender  must  bathe  in  the  ocean;  the 
kumu  then  aspersed  him  with  holy  water,  uttered  a  prayer,  ordered  a 
jienalty,  an  offering  to  the  kuahu,  and  declared  the  offender  clean. 
This  done,  he  was  again  received  into  fellowship  at  the  halau. 

The  ordinary  jMMialty  for  ■  a  breach  of  ceremony  or  an  offense 
against  sexual  morality  was  the  offering  of  a  baked  porkling  with 
awa.  Since  the  introduction  of  money  the  penalty  has  generally 
been  reckoned  on  a  commercial  basis;  a  money  fine  is  imposed.  The 
offering  of  pork  and  awa  is  retained  as  a  concession  to  tradition. 


v.— CEREMONIES  OF  GRADUATION;  DEBUT  OF  A  HULA 

DANCER 

Ceremonies  of  Graduation 

The  ai-lolo  rite  and  ceremony  marked  the  consummation  of  a 
pupil's  readiness  for  graduation  from  the  school  of  the  halau  and  his 
formal  entrance  into  the  guild  of  hula  dancers.  As  the  time  drew 
near,  the  kumu  tightened  the  reins  of  discipline,  and  for  a  few  days 
before  that  event  no  pupil  might  leave  the  halau  save  for  the  most 
stringent  necessity,  and  then  only  with  the  head  muffled  {pulo''u)  to 
avoid  recognition,  and  he  might  engage  in  no  conversation  whatever 
outside  the  halau. 

The  night  preceding  the  day  of  ai-lolo  was  devoted  to  special  serv- 
ices of  dance  and  song.  Some  time  after  midnight  the  whole  company 
went  forth  to  plunge  into  the  ocean,  thus  to  purge  themselves  of  any 
lurking  ceremonial  impurity.  The  progress  to  the  ocean  and  the 
return  they  made  in  complete  nudity.  "  Nakedness  is  the  garb  of  the 
gods."  On  their  way  to  and  from  the  bath  they  must  not  look  back, 
they  must  not  turn  to  the  right  hand  or  to  the  left. 

The  kumu,  as  the  priest,  remained  at  the  halau,  and  as  the  proces- 
sion returned  from  the  ocean  he  met  it  at  the  door  and  sprinkled  each 
one  (pikai)  with  holy  water.  Then  came  another  period  of  dance 
and  song;  and  then,  having  cantillated  a  pule  hoonoa,  to  lift  the 
tabu,  the  kumu  went  forth  to  his  own  ceremonial  cleansing  bath  in  the 
sea.  During  his  absence  his  deputy,  the  kokua  kumu,  took  charge  of 
the  halau.  When  the  kumu  reached  the  door  on  his  return,  he  made 
himself  known  by  reciting  a  mele  wehe  puka,  the  conventional  pass- 
word. 

Still  another  exercise  of  song  and  dance,  and  the  wearied  pupils 
are  glad  to  seek  repose.  Some  will  not  even  remove  the  short  dancing 
skirts  that  are  girded  about  them,  so  eager  are  they  to  snatch  an  hour 
of  rest ;  and  some  lie  down  with  bracelets  and  anklets  yet  unclasped. 

At  daybreak  the  kumu  rouses  the  company  with  the  tap  of  the 
drum.  After  ablutions,  before  partaking  of  their  simple  breakfast, 
the  company  stand  before  the  altar  and  recite  a  tabu-removing  prayer, 
accompanying  the  cantillation  with  a  rhythmic  tapping  of  feet  and 
clapping  of  hands: 

Pule  Hoonoa 

Pupil  we'nwe  n  e,  Laku  e ! 
O  kona  we'uwe'u  ke  ku  nei, 

31 


32  BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  88 

Kaumaha  a'e  la  ia  Laka. 
O  Laka  ke  akua  pule  ikaika. 
5         Ua  ku  ka  malle  a  Laka  a  imua ; 
Ua  In  ka  liua  «  o  ka  maile. 
Xoa,  noa  ia'u,  ia  Kahaula — 
I'apalua  noa. 
Noa,  a  ua  noa. 
10        Eli-eli  kapu  !  eli-eli  noa  ! 
Kapu  oukou,  ke  akua ! 
Noa  makou,  ke  kanaka'. 

[Translation] 

Tahu-lifiing  Prayer 

Oh  wildwood  bouquet,  oh  Laka  ! 
Hers  are  the  growths  that  stand  here. 
Suppliants  we  to  Laka. 
The  prayer  to  Laka  has  power; 
5        The  maile  of  Laka  stands  to  the  fore. 
The  maile  vine  casts  now  its  seeds. 
Freedom,  there's  freedom  to  me,  Kahaula — 
A  freedom  twofold. 
10        Freedom,  aye  freedom  : 

A  tabu  profound,  a  freedom  complete. 
Ye  gods  are  still  tabu; 
We  mortals  are  free. 

At  the  much-needed  repast  to  which  the  company  now  sit  down 
there  may  be  present  a  gathering  of  friends  and  relatives  and  of 
hula  experts,  called  olohe.  Soon  the  porkling  chosen  to  be  the 
ai-lolo  oifering  is  brought  in — a  black  suckling  without  spot  or 
blemish.  The  kumu  holds  it  down  while  all  the  pupils  gather  and  lay 
their  hands  upon  his  hands;  and  he  expounds  to  them  the  signifi- 
cance of  the  ceremony.  If  they  consecrate  themselves  to  the  work 
in  hand  in  sincerity  and  with  true  hearts,  memory  will  be  strong 
and  the  training,  the  knowledge,  and  the  songs  that  have  been  in- 
trusted to  the  memory  will  stay.  If  they  are  heedless,  regardless  of 
their  vows,  the  songs  they  have  learned  will  fly  away. 

The  ceremony  is  long  and  impressiAe ;  many  songs  are  used.  Some- 
times, it  was  claimed,  the  prayers  of  the  kumu  at  this  laying  on  of 
hands  availed  to  cause  the  death  of  the  little  animal.  On  the  com- 
pletion of  the  ceremony  the  offering  is  taken  out  and  made  ready 
foi-  the  oven. 

One  of  the  first  duties  of  the  day  is  the  dismantling  of  the  old 
kiinhu,  the  shrine,  and  the  construction  of  another  from  new  mate- 
rials as  a  residence  for  the  goddess.  AVhile  night  yet  shadows  the 
earth  the  attendants  and  friends  of  the  pupils  have  gone  up  into  the 

"  Lu  kn  hua.     Casta  now  Its  soeds      The  mafle  vine  (pi.  iv),  one  of  the  goddess's  emblems, 
casts  its  sj'eds.  meaning  that  the  goddess  gives  the  pupils  skill  and  inspires  them. 


BUREAU  OF  AMERICAN  ETHNOLOGY 


BULLETIN  38     PLATE  IV 


MAILE    (ALYXIA    MYRTILLIFOLIA)     WREATH 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  33 

mountains  to  collect  the  material  for  the  new  shrine.  The  rustic 
ai-tists,  while  engaged  in  this  loving  work  of  building  and  weaving 
the  new  kuahu,  cheer  and  inspire  one  another  with  joyful  songs 
vociferous  Avith  the  praise  of  Laka.  The  halau  also  they  decorate 
afresh,  strewing  the  floor  with  clean  rushes,  until  the  whole  place 
enthralls  the  senses  like  a  bright  and  fragrant  temple. 

The  kumu  now  grants  special  dispensation  to  the  pupils  to  go 
forth  that  they  may  make  good  the  results  of  the  neglect  of  the 
person  incident  to  long  confinement  in  the  halau.  For  days,  for 
weeks,  perhaps  for  months,  they  have  not  had  full  opportunity  to 
trim  hair,  nails,  or  beard,  to  anoint  and  groom  themselves.  They  use 
this  short  absence  from  the  hall  also  to  supply  themselves  with 
wreaths  of  fragrant  maile,  crocus-yellow  ilima,  scarlet-flaming  lehua, 
fern,  and  what  not. 

At  the  appointed  hour  the  pupils,  wreathed  and  attired  like 
nymphs  and  dryads,  assemble  in  the  halau,  sweet  with  woodsy  per- 
fumes.    At  the  door  they  receive  aspersion  with  consecrated  water. 

The  ai-lolo  offering,  cooked  to  a  turn — no  part  raw,  no  part 
cracked  or  scorched — is  brought  in  from  the  imu^  its  bearer  sprinkled 
by  the  guard  at  the  entrance.  The  kumu,  having  inspected  the  roast 
offering  and  having  declared  it  ceremonially  perfect,  gives  the  sig- 
nal, and  the  company  break  forth  in  songs  of  joy  and  of  adulation 
to  goddess  Laka : 

Meīe  Kuūhu 

Nolio  ana  Laka  i  ka  ulu  wehi-wehi, 
Ku  ana  iluna  i  Mo'o-helaia,'^ 
Ohia-Ku  ^  iluna  o  Mauna-loa.*^ 
Aloha  mai  Kaulana-ula  ^  ia'u. 
5         Eia  ka  iila  la,  he  ula  leo,^ 

He  iikii,  he  modal,  he  kanaenae, 
He  alana  na'u  ia  oe. 
E  Laka  e,  e  maliu  mai; 
E  maliu  mai  oe,  i  pono  au, 
10        A  pono  au,  a  pono  kaua. 

'^  Mo'o-Jielaia.  A  female  deity,  a  kupua,  who  at  death  became  one  of  the  divinities, 
Gti-makua,  of  the  hula.  Her  name  was  conferred  on  the  place  claimed  as  her  residence, 
on  Mauna-loa,  island  of  Molokai. 

^Ohia-Ku.  Full  name  ohia-ku-makiia ;  a  variety  of  the  ohia,  or  lehua  (pi.  xiii),  whose 
wood  was  used  in  making  temple  gods.  A  rough  stem  of  this  tree  stood  on  each  side 
near  the  hala-pepe.      (See  pi.  iii,  also  pp.  19-20.) 

"  Mauna-īoa.   Said  to  be  the  mountain  of  that  name  on  Molokai,  not  that  on  Hawaii. 

^  Kaulana-ula.  Full  form  Kaulana-a-ula;  the  name  of  a  deity  belonging  to  the  order, 
papa,  of  the  hula.     Its  meaning  is  explained  in  the  expression  ula  leo,  in  the  next  line. 

^  Ula  leo.  A  singing  or  trilling  sound,  a  tinnitus  aurium,  a  sign  that  the  deity  Kaulana- 
ula  was  making  some  communication  to  the  one  who  heard  it. 


"  By  the  pricking  of  my  thumbs 
Something  wicked   this   way   comes." 


25352— Bull.  38—09- 


34  BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

[Translation] 

Altar-Prayer 

Laka  sits  iu  her  shady  grove, 
Stands  on  her  terrace,  at  Mo'o-helaia ; 
Lilce  the  tree  of  God  Ku  on  Mauna-loa. 
Kaiilana-iila  trills  in  my  ear; 
5        A  whispered  suggestion  to  me, 
Lo,  an  offering,  a  payment, 
A  eulogy  give  I  to  thee. 
O  Laka,  incline  to  me! 
Have  compassion,  let  it  be  well — 
10        Well  with  me,  well  with  us  both. 

There  is  no  stint  of  prayer-song.  While  the  offering  rests  on  the 
kuahu,  the  joyful  service  continues: 

Melc  Kuahu 

E  Laka,  e ! 

Pupu  we'uwe'u  e,  Laka  e! 
E  Laka  i  ka  leo; 
E  laka  i  ka  loaa; 
5        E  Laka  i  ka  waiwai; 

E  Laka  i  na  mea  a  pau ! 

[Translation] 

Altar-Prayer 

O  goddess  Laka  ! 
O  wildwood  bouquet,  O  Laka ! 
O  Laka,  queen  of  the  voice ! 
O  Laka,  giver  of  gifts ! 
5         O  Laka,  giver  of  bounty ! 

O  Laka,  giver  of  all  things! 

At  the  conclusion  of  this  loving  service  of  worship  and  song  each 
niemher  of  the  troupe  removes  from  his  head  and  neck  the  wreaths 
that  had  bedecked  him,  and  with  them  crowns  the  image  of  the  god- 
dess until  her  altar  is  heaped  with  the  offerings. 

Now  comes  the  ]:)ith  of  the  ceremony:  the  novitiates  sit  down  to 
the  feast  of  ai-lolo,  theirs  the  j^lace  of  honor,  at  the  head  of  the  table, 
next  the  kuahu.  The  ho'o-faa^  acting  as  carver,  selects  the  typical 
parts — snout,  ear-tips,  tail,  feet,  portions  of  the  vital  organs,  espe- 
cially the  brain  {lolo).  This  last  it  is  which  gives  name  to  the  cere- 
mony. He  sets  an  equal  portion  before  each  novitiate.  Each  one 
must  eat  all  that  is  set  before  him.  It  is  a  mystical  rite,  a  sacrament; 
lis  he  eats  he  consciously  partakes  of  the  virtue  of  the  goddess  that  is 
transmitted  to  himself. 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE   OF   HAWAII  35 

Meantime  the  olohe  and  friends  of  the  novitiates,  inspired  with  the 
proper  enthusiasm  of  the  occasion,  lift  their  voices  in  joyful  cantilla- 
tions  in  honor  of  the  goddess,  accompanied  with  the  clapping  of 
iiands. 

The  ceremony  now  reaches  a  new  stage.  The  kumu  lifts  the  tabu 
by  uttering  a  prayer — always  a  song — and  declares  the  place  and  the 
feast  free,  and  the  whole  assembly  sit  down  to  enjoy  the  bounty  that 
is  spread  up  and  down  the  halau.  On  this  occasion  men  and  women 
may  eat  in  common.  The  only  articles  excluded  from  this  feast  are 
luaii — a  food  much  like  spinach,  made  by  cooking  the  young  and  deli- 
cate taro  leaf — and  the  drupe  of  the  hala^  the  pandanus  (pi.  xviii). 

The  company  sit  down  to  eat  and  to  drink;  presently  they  rise  to 
dance  and  sing.  The  kumu  leads  in  a  tabu-lifting,  freedom-giving 
song  and  the  ceremony  of  ai-lolo  is  over.  The  pupils  have  been  grad- 
uated from  the  school  of  the  halau;  they  are  now  members  of  the 
great  guild  of  hula  dancers.  The  time  has  come  for  them  to  make 
their  bow  to  the  waiting  public  outside,  to  bid  for  the  favor  of  the 
world.  This  is  to  be  their  ''  little  go;"  they  will  spread  their  wings 
for  a  greater  flight  on  the  morrow. 

The  kumu  with  his  big  drum,  and  the  musicians,  the  ho'o-pa'a, 
pass  through  the  door  and  take  their  places  outside  in  the  lanai, 
where  sit  the  waiting  multitude.  At  the  tap  of  the  drum  the  group 
of  waiting  olapa  plume  themselves  like  fine  birds  eager  to  show  their 
feathers ;  and,  as  they  pass  out  the  halau  door  and  present  themselves 
to  the  breathless  audience,  into  every  pose  and  motion  of  their  glid- 
ing, swaying  figures  they  pour  a  full  tide  of  emotion  in  studied  and 
unstudied  effort  to  captivate  the  public. 

Debut  of  a  Hula  Dancer 

The  occasion  is  that  of  a  lifetime;  it  is  their  imiki,  their  debut. 
The  song  chosen  must  rise  to  the  dignity  of  the  occasion.  Let  us 
listen  to  the  song  that  enthralls  the  audience  seated  in  the  rush- 
strown  lanai,  that  we  may  judge  of  its  worthiness. 

He  Mele-Inoa  (no  Naihe)<^ 

Ka  nalu  nni,  a  ku  ka  iialu  mai  Koua, 

Ka  malo  a  ka  mahiehie,^ 

Ka  onaulu-loa,<'  a  lele  ka'ii  malo. 


o  Xaihe.  A  man  of  strong  character,  but  not  a  high  chief.  He  was  born  in  Kona  and 
resided  at  Napoopoo.  His  mother  was  Ululani,  his  father  Keawe-a-heulu,  who  was  a 
celebrated  general  and  strategist  under  Kamehameha   I. 

''  Mahiehie.  A  term   conferring  dignity   and  distinction. 

«^  Onaulu-lva.  A  roller  of  great  length  and  endurance,  one  that  reaches  the  shore,  in 
contrast  to  a  kakala. 


36  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

O  kakai "  malo  boaka,''' 
5        O  ka  malo  kai,''  malo  o  ke  alii. 
E  ku,  e  liume  a  paa  i  ka  malo. 

E  ka'ika'i*^  ka  la  i  ka  papa  o  Halepo;'' 
A  pae  o  Halepo  i  ka  ualii. 
Ho-e'e  i  ka  nalu  mai  Kaliiki;^ 
10        lie  nalu  Wakea,^^  nalu  lio'ohua.'^ 

Haki  opu'u  ^  ka  nalu,  baki  kua-pa.-^ 

Ea  mai  ka  makakai^'  be'e-nalu, 
Kai  be'e  kakala  '  o  ka  moku, 
Kai-kā  o  ka  nalu  nui, 
15        Ka  bu'a  o  ka  nalu  o  Hiki-au.'" 
Kai  be'e-nalu  i  ke  awakea. 

Ku  ka  puna,  ke  ko'a  i-uka. 
Ka  makaba  o  ka  nalu  o  Kubibewa." 
Ua  o  iay^  noha  ka  papa ! 
20        Xoba  Maui,  nauweuwe, 
Xauweuwe,  uakelekele. 

Nakele  ka  ili  o  ka  i  be'e-kai. 
Lalilali  ole  ka  ili  o  ke  akamai; 
Kabilibili  ke  kai  a  ka  be'e-nalu. 
25         Ike'a  ka  nalu  nui  o  Puna,  o  Hilo. 

*  *  *  *  :tl 

[Translation] 
A  Name-Song,  a  EiClogy  (for  Xalbe) 

Tbe  buge  roller,  roller  tbat  surges  from  Kona, 
Makes  loin-clotb  fit  for  a  lord; 
Far-reacbing  swell,  my  malo  streams  in  tbe  wind ; 
Sbape  tbe  crescent  malo  to  tbe  loins — 
5         Tbe  loin-clotb  tbe  sea,  clotb  for  king's  girding. 
Stand,  gird  fast  tbe  loin-clotb! 

"  Kakai.  An  archaic  word  meaning  forty. 

^  Hoaka.  A  crescent;  tlie  name  of  tlie  second  day  of  the  month.  The  aUusion  is  to 
the  curve  (downward)  of  a  large  number  (Icakai)  of  malo  when  hung  on  a  line,  the 
usual  way  of  keeping  such  articles. 

''Malo  kai.  The  ocean  is  sometimes  poetically  termed  the  maīo  or  pa-u  of  the  naked 
swimmer,  or  bather.     It  covers  his  nakedness. 

'' Ka'ika'i.  To  lead  or  to  carry;  a  tropical  use  of  the  word.  The  sun  is  described  as 
leading    the    board. 

•■  llale-pt').  In  the  opinion  of  the  author  it  is  the  name  of  the  board.  A  skilled  Ha- 
waiian says  it  is  the  name  given  the  surf  of  a  place  at  Napoopoo,  in  Kona,  Hawaii.  The 
action  is  not  located  there,  but  in  Puna,  it  seems  to  the  author. 

f  Kahiki.  Tahiti,  or  any  foreign  country  ;  a  term  of  grandiloquence. 

»  Wakva.  A  mythical  name,  coming  early  in  Hawaiian  genealogies ;  here  used  in  ex- 
aggeration to  show  the  age  of  the  roller. 

^  Ilo'aliuti.  Applied  to  a  roller,  one  that  rolls  on  and  swells  higher. 

*  Opu'ii.  Said  of  a  roller  that  completes  its  run  to  shore. 

i  Kua-jta.  Said  of  a   roller  as  above  tliat  dies  at  the  sliore. 

^  Maka-kui.  The  springing-up  of  the  surf  after  an  interval  of  quiet. 

'  Kakala.  Kough,  heaped  up,  one  wave  overriding  another,  a  chop  sea. 

»"  Hiki-aii.  Said  to  be  the  name  of  a  temple. 

>*  Kuhifirira.   Full  name  Ka-kuhi-heica,  a  distinguished  king  of  Oahu. 

"  0  ia.  Meaning  that  the  board  dug  its  nose  into  the  reef  or  sand. 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE   OF   HAWAII  37 

Let  the  sun  guide  the  board  Halepo, 
Till  Halepo  lifts  on  the  swell. 
It  mounts  the  swell  that  rolls  from  Kahiki, 
10        From  Wakea's  age  onrolling. 

The  roller  plumes  and  ruffles  its   crest. 

Here  comes  the  champion   surf -man, 
While  wave-ridden  wave  beats  the  island, 
A   fringe   of  mountain-high    waves. 
15        Spume   lashes   the   Hiki-au   altar — 
A  surf  this  to  ride  at  noontide. 

The  coral,  horned  coral,  it  sweeps  far  ashore. 
We  gaze  at  the  surf  of  Ka-kuhi-hewa. 
The  surf-board   snags,   is  shivered; 
20        Maui   splits  with  a   crash, 

Trembles,   dissolves   into   slime. 

Glossy   the   skin   of   the   surf -man; 
Undrenched  the  skin  of  the  expert; 
Wave-feathers  fan  the  wave-rider. 
25        You've  seen  the  grand  surf  of  Puna,  of  Hilo. 
******* 
This  spirited  song,  while  not  a  full  description  of  a  surf-riding 
scene,  gives  a  vivid  picture  of  that  noble  *sport.     The  last  nine  verses 
have  been  omitted,  as  they  add  neither  to  the  action  nor  to  the  in- 
terest. 

It  seems  surprising  that  the  accident  spoken  of  in  line  19  should 
be  mentioned ;  for  it  is  in  glaring  opposition  to  the  canons  that  were 
usually  observed  in  the  composition  of  a  mele-inoa.  In  the  construc- 
tion of  a  eulogy  the  Hawaiians  were  not  only  punctiliously  careful 
to  avoid  mention  of  anything  susceptible  of  sinister  interpretation, 
but  they  were  superstitiously  sensitive  to  any  such  unintentional  hap- 
pening. As  already  mentioned  (p.  27),  they  believed  that  the  fate- 
compelling  power  of  a  word  of  ill-omen  was  inevitable.  If  it  did 
not  result  in  the  death  of  the  one  eulogized,  retributive  justice  turned 
the  evil  influence  back  on  him  who  uttered  it. 


VI.— THE  PASSWOKD— THE  SONG  OF  ADMISSION 

There  prevailed  among  the  practitioners  of  the  hula  from  one  end 
of  the  group  to  the  other  a  mutual  vmderstanding,  amounting  almost 
to  a  sort  of  freemasonry,  which  gave  to  any  member  of  the  guild 
the  right  of  free  entrance  at  all  times  to  the  hall,  or  halau,  where  a 
performance  was  under  way.  Admission  was  conditioned,  however, 
on  the  utterance  of  a  password  at  the  door.  A  snatch  of  song,  an  oli, 
denominated  mele  kahea^  or  mele  wehe  piika^  was  chanted,  which,  on 
being  recognized  by  those  within,  was  answered  in  the  same  language 
of  hyperbole,  and  the  door  was  opened. 

The  verbal  accuracy  of  any  mele  kahea  that  may  be  adduced  is  at 
the  present  day  one  of  the  vexed  questions  among  hula  authorities, 
each  hula-master  being  inclined  to  maintain  that  the  version  given 
by  another  is  incorrect.  This  remark  applies,  though  in  smaller 
measure,  to  the  whole  body  of  mele,  pule,  and  oli  that  makes  up  the 
songs  and  liturgy  of  the  hula  as  well  as  to  the  traditions  that  guided 
the  maestro,  or  kumu-hula,  in  the  training  of  his  company.  The 
reasons  for  these  differences  of  opinion  and  of  text,  now  that  there  is 
to  be  a  written  text,  are  explained  by  the  following  facts:  The  dev- 
otees and  practitioners  of  the  hula  were  divided  into  groups  that 
were  separated  from  one  another  by  wide  intervals  of  sea  and  land. 
They  belonged  quite  likely  to  more  than  one  cult,  for  indeed  there 
were  many  gods  and  au-mdkua  to  whom  they  sacrificed  and  offered 
prayers.  The  passwords  adopted  by  one  generation  or  by  the  group 
of  practitioners  on  one  island  might  suffer  verbal  changes  in  trans- 
mission to  a  later  generation  or  to  a  remote  island. 

Again,  it  should  be  remembered  that  the  entire  body  of  material 
forming  the  repertory  of  the  hula — pule,  mele,  and  oli — was  in- 
trusted to  the  keeping  of  the  memor}^,  without  the  aid  of  letters 
or,  so  far  as  known,  of  any  mnemonic  device ;  and  the  human  mind, 
even  under  the  most  athletic  discipline,  is  at  best  an  imperfect  con- 
servator of  literary  form.  The  result  was  what  might  be  expected : 
as  the  imagination  and  emotions  of  the  minstrel  warmed  under  the 
inspiration  of  his  trust,  glosses  and  amendments  crept  in.  These, 
however,  caused  but  slight  variations  in  the  text.  The  substance 
remains  substantially  the  same. 

After  carefully  weighing  the  matter,  the  author  can  not  avoid  the 
conclusion  that  jealousy  had  much  to  do  with  the  slight  differences 
now  manifest,  that  one  version  is  as  authoritative  as  another,  and 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEK  LITERATURE   OF   HAWAII         .  39 

that  it  would  be  well  for  each  kumii-hula  to  have  kept  in  mind  the 
wise  adage  that  shines  among  the  sayings  of  his  nation:  Aohe  pau 
lea  ike  i  kau  halaii  ° — "  Think  not  that  all  of  wisdom  resides  in  your 
halau."  ^ 

Mele  Kakea 

Li'u-li'ii  aloha  ia'u, 
Ka  uka  o  Koholā-lele, 
Ka  nahele  mauka  o  Ka-papala  ^  la. 
Komo,  e  komo  aku  hoi  au  maloko. 
5        Mai  ho'ohewahewa  mai  oe  ia'u ;  oau  no  ia, 
Ke  ka-nae-nae  a  ka  mea  hele, 

He  leo,  e-e, 
A  he  leo  wale  no,  e-e ! 
Eia  ka  pu'u  nui  owaho  nei  la, 
10        He  ua,  he  ino,  he  anu,  he  ko'e-ko'e. 
E  ku'u  aloha,  e, 
Maloko  aku  au. 

[Translation] 

Passivord 

Long,  long  have  I  tarried  with  love 
In  the  uplands  of  Kohola-lele, 
The  wildwood  above  Ka-papala. 
To  enter,  permit  me  to  enter,  I  pray; 
5        Refuse  me  not  recognition ;  I  am  he, 
A  traveler  offering  mead  of  praise, 

Just  a  voice, 
Only  a  human  voice. 
Oh,  what  I  suffer  out  here, 
10        Rain,  storm,  cold,  and  wet. 
O  sweetheart  of  mine. 
Let  me  come  in  to  you. 

Hear  now  the  answer  chanted  by  voices  from  within : 

Mele  Komo 

Aloha  na  hale  o  makou  i  maka-maka  ole, 
Ke  alanui  hele  mauka  o  Pu'u-kahea  la,  e-e! 

Ka-he-a ! 
E  Kahea  aku  ka  pono  e  komo  mai  oe  iloko  nei. 
Eia  ka  pu'u  nui  o  waho  nei,  he  anu. 

a  Sophocles  {Antigone,  705)  had  said  the  same  thing:  /mr;  vw  ev  ^dos  tt-owov  Iv  a-avrw  ^opet,  Jxr  9>jjs 
(TV,  KovSev  aWo,  tout'  opdws  exet»'—"  Don't  get  this  idea  fixed  in  your  head,  that  what  you  say,  and 
nothing  else,  is  right." 

^  Halau.  As  previously  explained,  in  this  connection  halau  has  a  meaning  similar  to 
our  word  "  school,"  or  "  academy,"  a  place  where  some  art  was  taught,  as  wrestling,  box- 
ing, or  the  hula. 

"  Ka-papala,    A  verdant  region  on  the  southeastern  fiank  of  Mauna-Loa. 


40  BUREAU   or  AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

[Translation] 

Song   of   Welcome 

What  love  to  our  cottage-homes,  now  vacant, 
As  one  climbs  the  mount  of  Entreaty ! 

We  call, 
We  voice  the  welcome,  invite  you  to  enter. 
The  hill  of  Affliction  out  there  is  the  cold. 

Another  fragment  that  was  sometimes  used  as  a  password  is  the  fol- 
lowing bit  of  song  taken  from  the  story  of  Hiiaka,  sister  of  Pele. 
She  is  journeying  with  the  beautiful  Hopoe  to  fetch  prince  Lohiau 
to  the  court  of  Pele.  They  have  come  by  a  steep  and  narrow  path  to 
the  brink  of  the  Wai-lua  river,  Kauai,  at  this  point  spanned  by  a 
single  plank.  But  the  bridge  is  gone,  removed  by  an  ill-tempered 
naiad  (witch)  said  to  have  come  from  Kahiki,  whose  name,  Wai-lua, 
is  the  same  as  that  of  the  stream.  Hiiaka  calls  out,  demanding  that 
the  plank  be  restored  to  its  place.  Wai-lua  does  not  recognize  the 
deity  in  Hiiaka  and,  sullen,  makes  no  response.  At  this  the  goddess 
puts  forth  her  strength,  and  Wai-lua,  stripped  of  her  power  and  re- 
duced to  her  true  station,  that  of  a  7no'^o,  a  reptile,  seeks  refuge  in  the 
caverns  beneath  the  river.  Hiiaka  betters  the  condition  of  the  cross- 
ing by  sowing  it  with  stepping  stones.  The  stones  remain  in  evidence 
to  this  day. 

Mele   Kahea 

Kunihi  ka  mauna  i  ka  la'i  e, 
O  Wai-ale-ale°  la  i  Wai-lua, 
Huki  a'e  la  i  ka  lani 
Ka  papa  au-wai  o  ka  Wai-kini; 
5        Alai  ia  a'e  la  e  Nou-nou, 
Nalo  ka  Ipu-ha'a, 
Ka  laula  mauka  o  Kapa'a,  e ! 
Mai  pa'a  i  ka  leo  ! 
He  ole  ka  hea  mai,  e! 

[Translation] 
Password — Song 

Steep  stands  the  mountain  in  calm. 
Profile  of  Wai-ale-ale  at  Wai-lua. 
Gone  the  stream-spanning  plank  of  Wai-kini, 
Filched  away  by  Nou-nou ; 
5         Shut  off  the  view  of  the  hill  Ipu-ha'a, 
And  the  upland  expanse  of  Ka-pa'a. 
(Jive  voice  and  make  answer. 
Dead  silence — no  voice  in  reply. 

In  later,  in  historic  times,  this  visitor,  whom  we  have  kept  long 
waiting  at  the  door,  might  have  voiced  his  appeal  in  the  passionate 
words  of  this  comparatively  modern  song: 


M'ai-ulc-alc   (Leaping-water).  The  central  mountain-mass  of  Kauai. 


EMEBSOX]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE   OF   HAWAII  4.1 

Mele  Kahea^ 

Ka  uka  holo-kia  ahi-manu  o  La'a,^ 
I  po-ele  i  ka  uahi,  noe  ka  nahele, 
Nohe-noliea  i  ka  makaui  luhau-pua. 
He  pna  oni  ke  kanaka — 
5        He  mea  laha  ole  ia  oe. 
Mai  kana  e  hea  nei ; 
E  hea  i  ke  kanaka  e  komo  maloko, 
E  hanai  ai  a  bewa  ^  ka  wa'ha. 
Eia  no  ka  uku  la,  o  ka  wa'a.<^ 

[Translation] 

Password — Song 

In  the  uplands,  the  darting  flame-bird  of  La'a, 
While  smoke  and  mist  blur  the  woodland, 
Is  keen  for  the  breath  of  frost-bitten  flowers. 

A  fickle  flower  is  man — 
5        A  trick  this  not  native  to  you. 

Come  thou  with  her  who  is  calling  to  thee; 
A  call  to  the  man  to  come  in 
And  eat  till  the  mouth  is  awry. 

Lo,  this  the  reward — the  canoe. 

The  answer  to  this  appeal  for  admission  was  in  these  words: 

Mele  Komo 

E  hea  i  ke  kanaka  e  komo  maloko, 
E  hanai  ai  a  hewa  waha ; 
Eia  no  ka  uku  la,  o  ka  leo, 
A  he  leo  wale  no,  e  ! 

[Translation] 

Welcoming-Song 

Call  to  the  man  to  come  in. 
And  eat  till  the  mouth  is  estopt ; 
And  this  the  reward,  the  voice, 
Simply  the  voice. 

The  cantillation  of  the  mele  komo^  in  answer  to  the  visitor's  peti- 
tion, meant  not  only  the  opening  to  him  of  the  halau  door,  but  also 
his  welcome  to  the  life  of  the  halau  as  a  heart-guest  of  honor,  trebly 
welcome  as  the  bringer  of  fresh  tidings  from  the  outside  world. 

"  This  utterance  of  passion  is  said  to  have  been  the  composition  of  the  Princess  Ka- 
mamalu,  as  an  address  to  Prince  William  Lunalilo,  to  whom  she  was  at  one  time  affi- 
anced and  would  have  married,  but  that  King  Lihohho  (Kamehameha  IV)  would  not 
allow  the  marriage.     Thereby  hangs  a  tragedy. 

^La'a.  The  region  in  Hawaii  now  known  as  Ola'a  was  originally  called  La'a.  The 
particle  o  has  become  fused  with  the  word. 

<=  Heica  ka  tcaha.  This  expression,  here  tortured  into  "(till)  the  mouth  awry,"  is 
difficult  of  translation.  A  skilled  Hawaiian  scholar  suggests  it  may  mean  to  change  one 
from  an  enemy  to  a  friend  by  stopping  his  mouth  with  food. 

<*  TTa'a.  Literally  a  canoe.  This  is  a  euphemism  for  the  human  body,  a  gift  often  too 
freely  granted.  It  will  be  noted  that  in  the  answering  mele  komo,  the  song  of  admis- 
sion, the  reward  promised  is  more  modestly  measured — "  Simply  the  voice." 


VII.— WORSHIP  AT  THE  ALTAR  OF  THE  HALAU 

The  first  duty  of  a  visitor  on  being  admitted  to  the  halau  while 
the  tabu  was  on — that  is,  during  the  conduct  of  a  regular  hula — was 
to  do  reverence  at  the  kuahu.  The  obligations  of  religion  took 
precedence  of  all  social  etiquette.  He  reverently  approaches  the  altar, 
to  which  all  eyes  are  turned,  and  with  outstretched  hands  pours  out 
a  supplication  that  breathes  the  aroma  of  ancient  prayer : 

Pule  Kuahu  (no  Laka) 

O  Laka  oe, 

O  ke  akna  i  ke  a'a-lii «  niii. 

E  Laka  mai  iika ! 

E  Laka  mai  kai ! 
,  5        O  hoo-ulu  *  o  Lono, 

O  ka  ilio  nana  e  haeliae  ke  aha, 

O  ka  ie-ie  ku  i  ka  wao, 

O  ka  maile  bilii  i  ka  nahele, 

O  ka  lau  ki-ele  ^  ula  o  ke  akna, 
10         O  na  ku'i*^  o  Hauoli, 

O  Ha'i-ka-malama,^ 

Wahine  o  Kina'n/ 

Kapo  nla  ^'  o  Kina'n. 

O  Laka  oe, 
15         O  ke  akna  i  ke  knahn  nei  la,  e ! 

E  ho'i,  e  ho'i  a  nobo  i  kon  knahn. 

Hoo-ulu  la  ! 

[Translation] 

AUar-Praycr  (to  Laka) 

Thou  art  Laka, 
God  of  the  deep-rootetl  a'a-lii. 
O  Laka  from  the  mountains, 
O  Laka  from  the  ocean ! 

"  A'a-īii.  A  deep-rooted  tree,  sacred  to  Laka  or  to  Kapo. 

^Hoo-ulu.  liiterally  to  make  grow;  secondarily,  to  inspire,  to  prosper,  to  bring  good 
luck.  This  is  the  meaning  most  in  mind  in  modern  times,  since  the  hula  has  become 
a  commercial  venture. 

'  Kiclc.  A  flowering  plant  native  to  the  Hawaiian  woods,  also  cultivated,  sacred  to 
Laka,  and  perhaps  to  Kapo.  The  leaves  are  said  to  be  pointed  and  curved  like  the 
beak  of  the  bird  i-iiri,  and  the  flower  has  the  gorgeous  yellow-red  color  of  that  bird. 

''  It  has  l)een  proposed  to  amend  this  verse  by  sulistituting  akiia  for  kul,  thus  making 
fhc  idea  the  gods  of  the  hula. 

^  Ifd'ikd-iiKildina.  An  epithet  applied  to  Laka. 

f  KiiKi'u.   Said  to  mean  Hiiaka.  the  sister  of  Tele. 

0  Kapo  ula.  Red,  uln,  was  the  favorite  color  of  Kapo.  The  Icnhtnia  otranna,  high 
priests  of  sorcery,  of  the  black  art.  and  of  murder,  to  whom  Kapo  was  at  times  pro- 
curess, made  themselves  known  as  such  by  the  display  of  a  red  flag  and  the  wearing  of 
a  red  malo. 

42 


Emerson]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE   OF   HAWAII  43 

5        Let  Lono  bless  the  service, 

Shutting  the  mouth  of  the  dog, 

That  breaks  the  charm  with  his  barking. 

Bring  tlie  i-e  that  grows  in  the  wikl.s, 

The  maile  that  twines  in  the  thicket, 
10        Red-beaked  kiele,  leaf  of  the  goddess. 

The  joyous  pulse  of  the  dance 

In  honor  of  Ha'i-ka-malama, 

Friend  of  Kina'u, 

Red-robed  friend  of  Kina'u. 
15        Thou  art  Laka, 

God  of  this  altar  here. 

Return,  return  and  reside  at  your  altar ! 

Bring  it  good  luck ! 

A  single  prayer  may  not  sufiice  as  the  offering  at  Laka's  altar. 
His  repertory  is  full;  the  visitor  begins  anew,  this  time  on  a  different 

tack: 

Pule  Kuahu  (no  Laka) 

Eia  ke  kuko,  ka  li'a ; 

I  ka  manawa  he  hiamoe  ko'u, 

Hoala  ana  oe, 

Ooe  o  Halau-lani, 
5  O  Hoa-lani, 

O  Puoho-lani, 
Me  he  manu  e  hea  ana  i  ka  maha  lehua 
Ku  moho  kiekie  la  i-uka. 
I-uka  ho'i  au  me  Laka 
10        A  Lea,"  a  Wahie-loa,*  i  ka  nahelehele; 
He  hoa  kaana  ia  no'u, 
No  kela  kuahiwi,  kualono  hoi. 

E  Laka,  e  Laka,  e! 
E  maliu  mai ! 
15        A  maliu  mai  oe  pono  au, 
A  a'e  mai  oe  pono  au ! 

[Translation] 
Altar-Prayer  (to  Laka) 

This  my  wish,  my  burning  desire, 
That  in  the  season  of  slumber 
Thy  spirit  my  soul  may  inspire, 

Altar-dweller, 
5  Heaven-guest, 

Soul-awakener, 
Bird  from  covert  calling, 
Where  forest  champions  stand. 

There  roamed  I  too  with  Laka, 

"  Lea.  The  same  as  Laia,  or  probably  Haumca. 

"  \Vahie  loa.  This  must  be  a  mistake.  Laka  the  son  of  Wahie-loa  was  a  great  voyager. 
His  canoe  (kau-meli-eli)  was  built  for  him  by  the  gods.  In  it  he  sailed  to  the  South  to 
rescue  his  father's  bones  from  the  witch  who  had  murdered  him.  This  Laka  had  his 
home  at  Kipahulu,  Maui,  and  is  not  to  be  confounded  with  Laka,  goddess  of  the  hula. 


44  ^  BUREAU   OF  AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

10        Of  Lea  and  Loa  a  wilderness-child; 

On  ridge,  in  forest  boon  companion  she 

To  the  heart  that  throbbed  in  me. 
O  Laka,  O  Laka, 

Hark  to  my  call ! 
15         You  approach,  it  is  well; 

You  i)ossess  me,  I  am  blest! 

In  the  translation  of  this  pule  the  author  has  found  it  necessary  to 
depart  from  the  verse  arrangement  that  obtains  in  the  Hawaiian  text. 

The  religious  services  of  the  halau,  though  inspired  by  one  motive, 
were  not  tied  to  a  single  ritual  or  to  one  set  of  prayers.  Prayer 
marked  the  beginning  and  the  ending  of  every  play — that  is,  of  every 
dance — and  of  every  important  event  in  the  programme  of  the  halau ; 
but  there  were  many  prayers  from  which  the  priest  might  select. 
After  the  prayer  specially  addressed  to  Laka  the  visitor  might  use  a 
petition  of  more  general  scope.    Such  is  the  one  noAV  to  be  given : 

He  Pule  Kuahu  (ia  Kane  ame  Kapo)  ;  a  he  Pule  Hoolei 

Kane,  hiki  a'e,  he  malama  «  ia  luna ; 
Ha'aha'a,  he  malama  ia  lalo ; 
Oni-oni,^  he  malama  ia  ka'u ; 
He  wahine  ^  lei,  malama  ia  Kapo ; 
5        E  Kapo  nui,  hala-hala  '^  a  i'a ; 
E  Kapo  nui,  hala-hala  ^  a  mea, 
Ka  alihi  f  luna,  ka  alihi  lalo ; 
E  ka  poha-ktj.^ 

Noho  ana  Kapo  i  ka  ulu  wehi-wehi ; 
10        Ku  ana  i  Moo-helaia,'^ 

Ka  ohi'a-Ku  iluna  o  Mauna-loa. 
Aloha  mai  Kaulana-a-ula  ^  ia'u ; 
Eia  ka  ula  la,  he  ula  leo,^' 
He  uku,  he  mohai,  he  alana, 

"  Malama.  Accented  on  the  penult,  as  here,  the  word  means  to  enlighten  or  a  light  (same 
in  second  verse).  In  the  third  and  fourth  verses  the  accent  is  changed  to  the  first  syl- 
lable, and  the  word  here  means  to  preserve,  to  foster.  These  words  furnish  an  example 
of  poetical  word-repetition. 

^  Onioni.  To  squirm,  to  dodge,  to  move.  The  meaning  here  seems  to  be  to  move  with 
delight. 

"  Wahine  lei.  A  reference  to  Laka,  the  chfld  of  Kapo,  who  was  symbolized  by  a  block 
of  wood  on  the  altar.      (See  p.  23.) 

<^  JIala-hala  a  i'a.  Said  to  be  a  certain  kind  of  fish  that  was  ornamented  about  its  tail- 
end  with  a  band  of  bright  color  ;  therefore  an  object  of  admiration  and  desire. 

'  JIala-hala  a  mea.  The  ending  mca  is  perhaps  taken  from  the  last  half  of  the  proper 
name  JIau-mca  who  was  Kapo's  mother.  It  belongs  to  the  laud,  in  contrast  to  the  sea, 
and  seems  to  be  intended  to  intensify  and  extend  the  meaning  of  the  term  previously  used. 
The  passage  is  dlfllcult.     Expert  Ilawaiians  profess  their  inability  to  fathom  its  meaning. 

f  Alihi  luna.  The  line  or  "  stretching  cord."  tliat  runs  the  length  of  a  net  at  its  top,  the 
a.  lalo  being  the  corresponding  line  at  the  bottom  of  the  net.  The  exact  significance  of 
(his  language  compliineutary  (o  Kapo  can  not   be  phrased  compactly. 

0  I'oha-ki'i.  The  Hue  that  rinis  ui»  and  down  at  the  end  of  a  loug  net,  by  which  It  may 
be  an '.'bored. 

"  Moo-hclaia.     See  note  a,  p.  .'?.'{. 

*  Kaulana-a-ula.     See  note  d,  p.  .'?.'?. 

}  Ula  leo.     See  note  e,  p.  33. 


BUREAU  OF  AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY 


BULLETIN  38     PLATE  V 


Tl    iDRAOENA    TERMINALIS) 


EMERSON]  UISTWRITTEN   LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  45 

15         He  kanaenae  na'u  ia  oe,  e  Kapo  ku-lani. 

E  nioe  hauiia-ike,  e  hea  an,  e  o  mai  oe. 

Aia  la  iia  lehiia  o  Kaana,*^ 

Ke  kiii  ia  mai  la  e  na  waliiue  a  lawa 

I  lei  no  Kapo — 
20        O  Kapo,  alii  nui  no  ia  moku, 

Ki'e-ki'e,  ha'a-ha'a ; 

Ka  la  o  ka  ike  e  ike  aku  ai : 

He  ike  knmu,  he  ike  louo, 

He  ike  pu-awa  *  liiwa, 
25        He  ike  a  ke  Akiia,  e ! 

E  Kapo,  ho'i  1 

E  ho'i  a  uoho  i  kou  kuahu. 

Ho'ulu  ia  ! 

Eia  ka  wai,*'  la, 
30        He  wai  e  ola. 

E  ola  uou,  e ! 

Verses  9  to  15,  inclusive,  are  almost  identical  in  form  with  the  first 
seven  verses  in  the  Mele  Kuahu  addressed  to  Laka,  given  on  page  33. 

[Translation] 

An  Altar-Prayer  (to  Kane  and  Kapo)  :  also  a  Garland-Prayer,  used  ichile  deco- 
rating the  altar 

Now,  Kane,  approach,  ilhimine  the  altar ; 

Stoop,  and  enlighten  mortals  below ; 

Rejoice  in  the  gifts  I  have  brought. 

Wreathed  goddess  fostered  by  Kapo — 
5        Hail  Kapo,  of  beauty  resplendent ! 

Great  Kapo,  of  sea  and  land. 

The  topmost  stay  of  the  net. 

Its  lower  stay  and  anchoring  line. 

Kapo  sits  in  her  darksome  covert; 
10        On  the  terrace,  at  Mo'o-he-laia, 

Stands  the  god-tree  of  Ku,  on  Mauna-loa. 

God  Kaulana-ula  twigs  now  mine  ear, 

His  whispered  suggestion  to  me  is 

This  payment,  sacrifice,  offering, 
15        Tribute  of  praise  to  thee,  O  Kapo  divine. 

Inspiring  spirit  in  sleep,  answer  my  call. 

Behold,  of  lehua  bloom  of  Kaana 

The  women  are  stringing  enough 

To  enwreath  goddess  Kapo; 
20        Kapo,  great  queen  of  that  island. 

Of  the  high  and  the  low. 

The  day  of  revealing  shall  see  what  it  sees : 

"  Kaana.  A  place  on  Mauna-loa,  Molokai,  where  the  lehua  greatly  flourished.  The  body 
of  Kapo,  it  is  said,  now  lies  there  in  appearance  a  rock.  The  same  claim  is  made  for  a 
rock  at  Wailua,  liana,  Maui. 

^Pu-awa  hiica  (hiica,  black).  A  kind  of  strong  awa.  The  gentle  exhilaration,  as  well  as 
the  deep  sleep,  of  awa  were  benefits  ascribed  to  the  gods.  Awa  was  an  essential  to  most 
complete  sacrifices. 

'  Wai.  Literally  water,  refers  to  the  bowl  of  awa,  replenished  each  day,  which  set  on 
the  altar  of  the  goddess. 


46  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

A  seeing  of  facts,  a  sifting  of  rumors, 

An  insight  won  by  the  black  sacred  awa, 
25        A  vision  like  that  of  a  god ! 

O  Kapo,  return  ! 

Return  and  abide  in  your  altar! 

Make  it  fruitful! 

Lo,  here  is  the  water, 
30        The  water  of  life ! 

Hail,  now,  to  thee! 

The  little  god-folk,  whom  the  ancients  called  Kini  Akua — myriads 
of  gods — and  who  made  the  wildwoods  and  wilderness  their  play- 
ii'roiind,  must  also  be  placated.  They  were  a  lawless  set  of  imps ;  the 
elfins,  brownies,  and  kobolds  of  our  fairy  world  were  not  "  up  to 
tliem  "  in  wanton  deviltry.  If  there  is  to  be  any  luck  in  the  house, 
it  can  only  be  when  they  are  dissuaded  from  outbreaking  mischief. 

The  pule  next  given  is  a  polite  invitation  to  these  little  brown 
men  of  the  woods  to  honor  the  occasion  with  their  presence  and  to 
bring  good  luck  at  their  coming.  It  is  such  a  prayer  as  the  visitor 
might  choose  to  repeat  at  this  time,  or  it  might  be  used  on  other 
occasions,  as  at  the  consecration  of  the  kuahu : 

He  Pule  Kuahu  (no  Kini  Akua) 

E  ulu,  e  ulu,  Kini  o  ke  Akua  ! 
Ulu  Kane  me  Kanaloa  ! 
Ulu  Ohi'a-lau-koa,  me  ka  le-ie! 
A'e  mai  a  noho  i  kou  kuahu ! 
5        Eia  ka  wai  la,  he  wai  e  ola. 
E  ola  no,  e-e ! 

[Translation] 

An  Altar-Prayer  (to  the  Kini  Akua) 

Gather,  oh  gather,  ye  hosts  of  godlings! 
Come  Kane  with  Kanaloa  ! 
Come  leafy  Ohi'a  and  I-e ! 
I'ossess  me  and  dwell  in  your  altar ! 
5        Here's  water,  water  of  life  ! 
liife,  give  us  life ! 

The  visitor,  having  satisfied  his  sense  of  what  the  occasion  de- 
mands, changes  his  tone  from  that  of  cantillation  to  ordinary  speech, 
and  concludes  his  worship  with  a  petition  conceived  in  the  spirit 
of  the  following  prayer : 

E  ola  ia'u,  i  ka  malihini:  a  iiela  hoi  na  kamaaina,  ke  kumu,  na  haumana,  ia 
oe,  e  Laka.  E  Laka  ia  I'ohaku  i  ka  wawae.  E  Laka  1  ke  kupe'e.  E  Laka  ia 
I.uukia  i  ka  pa-u ;  e  I.aka  i  ke  kuhi ;  e  Laka  i  ka  leo ;  e  Laka  i  ka  lei.  E 
Laka  i  ke  ku  ana  imua  o  ke  anaina. 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  47 

[Translation] 

Thy  blessing,  O  Laka,  on  me  the  stranger,  and  on  the  residents,  teacher  and 
pupils.  O  Laka,  give  grace  to  the  feet  of  Pohakii;  and  to  her  bracelets  and 
anklets;  comeliness  to  the  figure  and  skirt  of  Luukia.  To  (each  one)  give 
gesture  and  voice.  O  Laka,  make  beautiful  the  lei ;  inspire  the  dancers  when 
they  stand  before  the  assembly. 

At  the  close  of  this  service  of  song  and  prayer  the  visitor  will 
turn  from  the  kuahu  and  exchange  salutations  and  greetings  with 
his  friends  in  the  halau. 

The  song-praA^er  ''  Now,  Kane,  approach,  illumine  the  altar " 
(p.  45)  calls  for  remark.  It  brings  up  again  the  question,  previously 
discussed,  whether  there  were  not  two  distinct  cults  of  worshipers, 
the  one  devoted  to  Laka,  the  other  to  Kapo.  The  following  facts 
Avill  throw  light  on  the  question.  On  either  side  of  the  approach  to 
the  altar  stood,  sentinel-like,  a  tall  stem  of  hala-pepe,  a  graceful, 
slender  column,  its  head  of  green  sword-leaves  and  scarlet  dru|:)es 
making  a  beautiful  picture.  (See  p.  24.)  These  are  said  to  have 
been  the  special  emblems  of  the  goddess  Kapo. 

The  following  account  of  a  conversation  the  author  had  with  an 
old  Woman,  whose  youthful  days  were  spent  as  a  hula  dancer,  will 
also,  help  to  disentangle  the  subject  and  explain  the  relation  of  Kapo 
to  the  hula : 

"  Will  you  not  recite  again  the  prayer  you  just  now  uttered,  and 
slowly,  that  it  may  be  written  down?  "  the  author  asked  of  her. 
"  Many  prayers  for  the  kuahu  have  been  collected,  but  this  one  differs 
from  them  all." 

"  AYe  Hawaiians,"  she  answered,  "  have  been  taught  that  these 
matters  are  sacred  (kapu)  and  must  not  be  bandied  about  from  mouth 
to  mouth." 

"Aye,  but  the  time  of  the  tabus  has  passed.  Then,  too,  in  a  sense 
having  been  initiated  into  hula  matters,  there  can  be  no  impropriety 
in  my  dealing  with  them  in  a  kindly  spirit." 

"  Xo  harm,  of  course,  will  come  to  you,  a  haole  (foreigner).  The 
question  is  how  it  will  affect  us." 

"  Tell  me,  were  there  two  different  classes  of  worshipers,  one 
class  devoted  to  the  worship  of  Laka  and  another  class  devoted  to 
the  worship  of  Kapo  ?  " 

"  Xo,"  she  answered,  "  Kapo  and  Laka  were  one  in  spirit,  though 
their  names  were  two." 

"  Haumea  was  the  mother  of  Kapo.     Who  was  her  father  ?  " 

"  Yes,  Haimiea  was  the  mother,  and  Kua-ha-ilo «  was  the  father." 

"  How  about  Laka  ?  " 

"Kua-ha-ilo.     A  god  of  the  kahuna  anaana;  meaning  literally  to  breed  maggots  in  the 

back. 


48  BUREAU   OF  AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

"  Laka  was  the  daughter  of  Kapo.  Yet  as  a  patron  of  the  hula 
Laka  stands  first;  she  was  worshiped  at  an  earlier  date  than  Kapo; 
but  they  are  really  one." 

P^urther  questioning  brought  out  the  explanation  that  Laka  was 
not  begotten  in  ordinary  generation;  she  was  a  sort  of  emanation 
from  Kapo.  It  Avas  as  if  the  goddess  should  sneeze  and  a  deity 
should  issue  with  the  breath  from  her  nostrils;  or  should  wink,  and 
thereby  beget  spiritual  offspring  from  the  eye,  or  as  if  a  spirit  should 
issue  forth  at  some  movement  of  the  ear  or  mouth. 

When  the  old  woman's  scruples  had  been  laid  to  rest,  she  repeated 
slowl}'  for  the  author's  benefit  the  pule  given  on  pages  45  and  46, 
"  Now,  Kane,  approach,"  *  *  *  ^f  which  the  first  eight  lines  and 
much  of  the  last  part,  to  him,  were  new. 


VIII.— COSTUME  OF  THE  HULA  DANCEK 

The  costume  of  the  hula  dancer  was  much  the  same  for  both  sexes, 
its  chief  article  a  simple  short  skirt  about  the  waist,  the  pa-u.  (PL  i.) 

When  the  time  has  come  for  a  dance,  the  halau  becomes  one  com- 
mon dressing  room.  At  a  signal  from  the  kumu  the  work  begins. 
The  putting  on  of  each  article  of  costume  is  accompanied  by  a  special 
song. 

First  come  the  hu-pe^e^  anklets  of  whale  teeth,  bone,  shell-work, 
dog-teeth,  fiber-stuffs,  and  what  not.  While  all  stoop  in  unison  they 
chant  the  song  of  the  anklet : 

Mele  Ku-pe"e 

Aala  kupukupu  «  ka  uka  o  Kane-hoa.^ 
E  ho-a !  c 

Hoa  na  lima  o  ka  makani,  he  Wai-kaloa.<* 
He  Wai-kaloa  ka  makani  ami  Lihue. 
5        Alina  ^  lehua  i  Ivau  ka  opua — 
Ku'ii  pua, 

Ku'u  pua  i'ini  e  ku-i  a  lei. 
Ina  ia  oe  ke  lei  'a  mai  la. 

[Translation] 

Anklet-Song 

Fragrant  the  grasses  of  high  Kane-hoa. 
Bind  on  the  anklets,  bind ! 
Bind  with  finger  deft  as  the  wind 
That  cools  the  air  of  this  bower. 
5        Lehua  bloom  pales  at  my  flower, 
O  sweetheart  of  mine, 
Bud  that  I'd  pluck  and  wear  in  my  wreath, 
If  thou  wert  but  a  flower ! 

The  short  skirt,  pa-u,  was  the  most  important  piece  of  attire  worn 
by  the  Hawaiian  female.  As  an  article  of  daily  wear  it  represented 
many  stages  of  evolution  beyond  the  primitive  fig-leaf,  being  fabri- 
cated from  a  great  variety  of  materials  furnished  by  the  garden  of 

"  Kupukupu.   Said  to  be  a  fragrant  grass. 

*  Kane-hoa.  Said  to  be  a  liill  at  Kaupo,  Maui.  Another  person  says  it  is  a  hill  at 
Lihue,  on  Oahu.     The  same  name  is  often  repeated. 

«^  H6-a.     To  bind.     An  instance  of  word-repetition,  common  in  Hawaiian  poetry. 

<*  Wai-kaloa.  A  cool  wind  that  blows  at  Lihue,  Kauai. 

« Alina.  A  scar,  or  other  mark  of  disfigurement,  a  moral  blemish.  In  ancient  times 
lovers  inflicted  injuries  on  themselves  to  prove  devotion. 

25352— Bull.  38—09 4  49 


50  BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

nature.  In  its  simi^lest  terms  the  pa-ii  was  a  mere  fringe  of  vegetable 
fibers.  "NMien  i)laced  as  the  shiekl  of  modesty  about  the  loins  of  a 
woman  of  rank,  or  when  used  as  the  full-dress  costume  of  a  dancing 
girl  on  a  ceremonious  occasion,  it  took  on  more  elaborate  forms,  and 
was  frequently  of  tapa^  a  fabric  the  finest  specimens  of  which  would 
not  have  shamed  the  wardrobe  of  an  empress. 

In  the  costuming  of  the  hula  girl  the  same  variety  obtained  as  in 
the  dress  of  a  woman  of  rank.  Sometimes  her  pa-u  would  be  only  a 
close-set  fringe  of  ribbons  stripped  from  the  bark  of  the  hibiscus 
[liaxi)^  the  ti  leaf  or  banana  fiber,  or  a  fine  rush,  strung  upon  a  thong 
to  encircle  the  waist.  In  its  most  elaborate  and  formal  style  the  pa-u 
consisted  of  a  strip  of  fine  tapa  several  yards  long  and  of  width  to 
reach  nearly  to  the  knees.  It  was  often  delicately  tinted  or  printed, 
as  to  its  outer  part,  with  stamped  figures.  The  part  of  the  tapa  skirt 
thus  printed,  like  the  outer,  decorative  one  in  a  set  of  tapa  bed-sheets, 
was  termed  the  kilohana. 

The  pa-u  worn  b}^  the  danseuse,  when  of  tapa,  was  often  of  such 
volume  as  to  balloon  like  the  skirt  of  a  coryphee.  To  put  it  on  was 
quite. an  art,  and  on  that  account,  if  not  on  the  score  of  modesty,  a 
portion  of  the  halau  was  screened  off  and  devoted  to  the  use  of  the 
females  as  a  dressing  room,  being  known  as  the  iimi-laii-koa^  and  to 
this  place  they  repaired  as  soon  as  the  kumu  gave  the  signal  for 
dressing. 

The  hula  pa-ii  of  the  women  was  worn  in  addition  to  that  of  daily 
life;  the  hula  pa-u  of  the  men,  a  less  pretentious  affair,  was  worn 
outside  the  malo,  and  in  addition  to  it. 

The  method  of  girding  on  the  pa-ii  was  peculiar.  Beginning  at 
the  right  hip — some  say  the  left — a  free  end  was  allowed  to  hang 
quite  to  the  knee;  then,  passing  across  the  back,  rounding  the  left 
hip,  and  returning  b}^  way  of  the  abdomen  to  the  starting  point, 
another  circuit  of  the  waist  was  accomplished;  and,  a  reverse  being 
made,  the  garment  was  secured  by  passing  the  bight  of  the  tapa  be- 
neath the  hanging  folds  of  the  pa-u  from  below  upward  until  it 
slightly  protruded  above  the  border  of  the  garment  at  the  waist. 
This  second  end  was  thus  brought  to  hang  down  the  hip  alongside  of 
the  first  free  end;  an  arrangement  that  produced  a  most  decorative 
effect. 

The  Ilawaiians.  in  their  fondness  for  giving  personal  names  to 
inaninuite  objects,  named  the  two  free  ends  (apua)  of  the  pa-ii  re- 
spectively Ku-kdpu-ula-ka-ldni  and  Lele-a-mahu'i. 

According  to  another  method,  which  was  simpler  and  more  com- 
monly employed,  the  piece  was  folded  sidewise  and,  being  gathered 
into  pleats,  a  cord  was  inserted  the  length  of  the  fold.  The  cord 
was  passed  about  the  waist,  knotted  at  the  hip,  and  thus  held  the 
garment  secure. 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE   OF   HAWAII  51 

While  the  girls  are  making  their  simple  toilet  and  donning  their 
unique,  but  scanty,  costume,  the  kumu,  aided  by  others,  soothes  the 
impatience  of  the  audience  and  stimulates  their  imagination  by  can- 
tillating  a  mele  that  sets  forth  in  grandiloquent  imagery  the  praise" 
of  the  pa-u. 

OH  Pa-u 

Kakua  pa-u,  ahii  na  kikepa ! « 
I  ka  pa-u  noenoe  i  hooluii'a, 
I  hookakua  ia  a  paa  iluna  o  ka  imu.* 
Kii  ka  hu'a  ^  o  ka  pali  o  ka  wai  kapu, 
5        He  kuina  ^  pa-u  pali  ^  no  Kupe-hau, 
I  liolo  a  paa  ia,  paa  e  Hono-kaue/ 

Malama  o  lilo  i  ka  pa-ti. 
Holo  ilio  la  ke  a  la  ka  Manu  o  i  ua  pali ; 
Pali  ku  kaliako  haka  a-i, 
10         I  ke  keiki  pa-u  pali  a  Kau-kini,'^ 
I  hoonu'anu'a  iluna  o  ka  Auwaua.* 

"  KiJccpa.  The  bias,  the  one-sided  slant  given  the  pa-ii  by  tucking  it  in  at  one  side,  as 
previously  described. 

^  Iniu.  An  oven ;  an  allusion  to  the  heat  and  passion  of  the  part  covered  by  the  pa-u. 

'^  Hti'a.  Foam  ;  figurative  of  the  fringe  at  the  border  of  the  pa-vi. 

^  Kuina.  A  term  applied  to  the  five  sheets  that  were  stitched  together  (kui)  to  make 
a  set  of  bed-clothes.     Five  turns  also,  it  is  said,  complete  a  pa-fl. 

«  Pali  no  Kupe-hau.  Throughout  the  poem  the  pa-fi  is  compared  to  a  pali,  a  mountain 
wall.     Kupe-hau  is  a  precipitous  part  of  Wai-pi'o  valley. 

f  Hono-kane.  A  valley  near  Wai-pi'o.  Here  it  is  personified  and  said  to  do  the  work 
on  the  pa-u. 

ff  Manu.  A  proper  name  given  to  this  pa-i'i. 

'•  Kau-kini.  The  name  of  a  hill  back  of  Lahaina-luna,  the  traditional  residence  of  a 
kahuna  named  Lua-hoo-moe,  whose  two  sons  were  celebrated  for  their  manly  beauty. 
Ole-pau,  the  king  of  the  island  Maui,  ordered  his  retainer,  Lua-hoo-moe,  to  fetch  for  his 
eating  some  young  ii-a'u,  a  sea-bird  that  nests  and  rears  its  young  in  the  mountains. 
These  young  birds  are  esteemed  a  delicacy.  The  kahuna,  who  was  a  bird-hunter,  truth- 
fully told  the  king  that  it  was  not  the  season  for  the  young  birds  ;  the  parent  birds  were 
haunting  the  ocean.  At  this  some  of  the  king's  boon  companions,  moved  by  ill-will, 
charged  the  king's  mountain  retainer  with  suppressing  the  truth,  and  in  proof  they 
brought  some  tough  old  birds  caught  at  sea  and  had  them  served  for  the  king's  table. 
Thereupon  the  king,  not  discovering  the  fraud,  ordered  that  Lua-hoo-moe  should  be  put 
to  death  by  fire.  The  following  verses  were  communicated  to  the  author  as  apropos  of 
Kau-kini,  evidently  the  name  of  a  man  : 

Ike  ia  Kau-kini,  he  lawaia  manu. 

He  upena  ku'u  i  ka  noe  i  Poha-kahi, 

Ua  hoopulu  ia  i  ka  ohu  ka  kikepa  ; 

Ke  na'i  la  i  ka  luna  a  Kea-auwana  ; 

Ka  uahi  i  ke  ka-peku  e  hei  ai  ka  manu  o  Pu-o-alii. 

O  ke  alii  wale  no  ka'u  i  makemake 

Ali'a  la,  ha'o,  e  ! 

[Translation] 
Behold  Kau-kini,  a  fisher  of  birds  ; 
Net  spread  in  the  mist  of  Poha-kahi, 
That  is  soaked  by  the  sidling  fog. 
It  strives  on  the  crest  of  Koa-auwana. 
Smoke   traps   the  birds   of  Pu-o-alii. 
It's  only   the  king  that  I   wish  : 
But  stay  now — I  doubt. 
*  Amcana.   Said  to  be  an  eminence  on  the  flank  of  Haleakala,  back  of  Ulupalakua. 


52  BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

Akalii  ke  ana,  ka  lubi  i  ka  pa-ti : 
Ka  ho-oio  i  ke  kapa-wai, 
I  iia  kikepa  wai  o  Apiia," 
15         I  liopii  'a  i  ka  ua  iioe  liolo  i>oo-poo, 
Me  he  pa-ii  eleliiwa  wale  i  iia  pali. 

Ohiohi  ka  pali,  ki  ka  liko  o  ka  lama, 
Mania  ula  ^  ia  ka  malua  nla, 
I  hopu  a  omau  ia  e  ka  maino. 
20        I  ^  ka  malo  o  Umi  ku  huna  mai. 
Ike'a  ai  na  maawe  wai  olona,'^ 
E  niakili  ia  nei  i  Waibilau.'^ 
Holo  ke  olona,  paa  ke  kapa. 

Hu'a  lepo  ole  ka  pa-ii ; 
25         Nani  ka  o-iwima  ka  niaka  kilo-liana/ 
Makalii  ka  obe,^  paa  ke  kapa. 

Opua  ke  abi  i  na  pali, 
I  bookau  kalena  ia  e  ka  makani, 
I  kaomi  pobakn  ia  i  Wai-mauu, 
30         I  na  ala  ''  ki-ola-ola. 
I  na  ala,  i  ala  lele 
la  Kane-poba-ka'a.' 

Paa  ia  Wai-mann,^"  o-oki  Wai-pi'o; 
I.alau  o  Ha'i  i  ka  obe, 
35         la  Koa'e-kea,''' 

I  kanbibi  ia  ia  obe  laulii,  ia  obe, 
Oki'a  a  moku,  mo'  ke  kibi,^ 

"  Apua.  A  place  on  Hawaii,  on  Maui,  on  Oaliu,  on  Kauai,  and  on  Molokai. 

^  Mama  ula  ia  ka  malua  nla.  Tlie  malua-ula  was  a  variety  of  tapa  that  was  stained  with 
hili  kiikui  (the  root-bark  of  the  kukui  tree).  The  ripe  kukui  nut  was  chewed  into  a  paste 
and  minjiled  with  this  stain.  Mama  ula  refers  to  this  chewing.  The  malua  ula  is  men- 
tioned as  a  foil  to  the  pa-u,  being  a  cheap  tapa. 

•^  /.  A  contracted  form  of  ti  or  ki,  the  plant  or,  as  in  this  case,  the  leaf  of  the  //.  the 
Dracaena  (pi.  v).  Liloa,  the  father  of  Umi,  used  it  to  cover  himself  after  his  amour 
with  the  mother  of  Umi,  having  given  his  malo  in  pledge  to  the  woman.  Umi  may  have 
used  this  same  leaf  as  a  substitute  for  the  malo  while  in  the  wilderaess  of  Laupahoehoe, 
hiding  away  from  his  l)rother.  King  Ilakau. 

'' OlouA.  A  strong  vegetable  fiber  sometimes  added  to  tapa  to  give  it  strength.  The 
fibers  of  olona  in  the  fabric  of  the  pa-fi  are  compared  to  the  runnels  and  brooklets  of 
M'aihilan. 

«  Wai-hilau.  Name  applied  to  the  water  that  drips  in  a  cave  in  Puna.  It  is  also  the 
name  of  a  stream  in  Wai-pi'o  valley,  Hawaii. 

f  Kilo-hana.  The  name  given  the  outside,  ornamented,  sheet  of  a  set  (kuiua)  of  five 
tapas  used  as  bed-clothing.  It  was  also  applied  to  that  part  of  a  pa-u  which  was  deco- 
rated with  figures.  The  word  comes  from  kilohi,  to  examine  critically,  and  hana,  to 
work,  and  therefore  means  an  ornamental  work. 

0  Ohr.   Hamboo.     In  this  case  the  stamp,  made  from  bamboo,  used  to  print  the  tapa. 

".!/(}.  The  hard,  dark  basalt  of  which  the  Hawaiian  ko'i,  adz.  is  made;  any  pebble, 
or  small  water-worn  stone,  such  as  would  l)e  used  to  hold  in  place  the  pa-u  while  spread 
out  to  dry. 

<  Kanv-iKtha-ka'a.  Kane-the-hail-sender.  The  great  god  Kane  was  also  conceived  of  as 
Kane-hekili,  the  thunderer  :    Kane-lulu-honua,  the  earthquake-sender,  etc. 

i  Wai-inanu  and  Wai-pi'o  ar(>  neighboring  valleys. 

k  Ko-a'rkra.  A  land  In  Wai  pi'o  valley. 

'  Mo'  kv  kihi.  Mo'  is  a  contracted  form  of  moku. 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN    LITERATURE   OF    HAWAII  53 

Mo'  ke  kihi,  ka  malāma  ka  Hoaka,<» 
I  apahu  ia  a  poe, 
40        O  awili  *  o  Malu-6. 

He  pola  ia  no  ka  pa-ū ; 
E  hii  ana  e  Ka-holo-kua-iwa, 
Ke  amo  la  e  Pa-wili-wili 
I  ka  pa-u  poo  kau-poku — ^ 
45        Kau  poku  a  hana  ke  ao, 
Kau  iluna  o  Hala'a-wili, 
I  owili  hana  haawe. 

Ku-ka'a,  olo-ka'a  wahie; 
Ka'a  ka  opeope,  ula  ka  pali  ;^ 
50        Uwa  kamalii,  hookani  ka  pihe, 

Hookani  ka  a'o,^  a  hana  pilo  ka  leo, 
I  ka  mahalo  i  ka  pa-u, 
I  ka  pa-ti  wai-lehna  a  Hi'i-lawe  f  iluna, 
Pi'o  anuenue  a  ka  ua  e  ua  nei. 

This  is  a  typical  Hawaiian  poem  of  the  better  sort,  keyed  in  a 
highly  imaginative  strain.  The  multitude  of  specific  allusions  to 
topographical  names  make  it  difficult  to  translate  it  intelligently  to 

«  Hoaka.  The  name  of  the  moon  in  its  second  day,  or  of  the  second  day  of  the  Ha- 
waiian month  ;    a  crescent. 

^  O  awili  0  Malu-6.  Tlie  most  direct  and  evident  sense  of  the  word  awili  is  to  wrap. 
It  probably  means  the  wrapping  of  the  pa-u  about  the  loins ;  or  it  may  mean  the  mov- 
able, shifty  action  of  the  pa-u  caused  by  the  lively  actions  of  the  dancer.  The  expression 
Malu-6  may  be  taken  from  the  utterance  of  the  king's  ilamuku  (constable  or  sheriff)  or 
other  official,  who,  in  proclaiming  a  tabu,  held  an  idol  in  his  arms  and  at  the  same  time 
called  out  Kapu,  o-o !  The  meaning  is  that  the  pa-u,  when  wrapped  about  the  woman's 
loins,  laid  a  tabu  on  the  woman.  The  old  Hawaiian  consulted  on  the  meaning  of  this 
passage  quoted  the  following,  which  illustrates  the  fondness  of  his  people  for  endless 
repetitions  and  play  upon  words  : 

Awiliwili  i  ka  hale*  .o  ka  lauwili,  e. 
He  lauwili  ka  makani,  he  Kaua-ula,t 
I  hoapaapa  i  ka  hale  o  ka  lauwili,  e  : 

[Translation] 

Unstable  the  house  of  the  shifty  man, 

Fickle  as  the  wind  Kaua-ula. 

Treachery   lurks   in  the  house   of   Unstable. 

<^  Kaupoku.  A  variant  of  the  usual  form,  which  is  kaupaku,  the  ridgepole  of  a  ^ouse, 
its  apex.  The  pa-ti  when  worn  takes  the  shape  of  a  grass  house,  which  has  the  form  of 
a  haystack. 

«^  Ula  ka  pali.  Red  shows  the  pali,  i.  e.,  the  side  hill.  This  is  a  euphemism  for  some 
accident  by  which  the  pa-ii  has  been  displaced,  and  an  exposure  of  the  person  has 
taken  place,  as  a  result  of  which  the  boys  scream  and  even  the  sea-bird,  the  a'o,  shrieks 
itself  hoarse. 

«  A'o.  A  sea-bird,  whose  raucous  voice  is  heard  in  the  air  at  night  at  certain  seasons. 

f  Hi'i-lawe.  A  celebrated  waterfall  in  Wai-pi'o  valley,  Hawaii. 

*Primitive  meaning,  house  ;    second,  the  body  as  the  house  of  the  soul. 

t  Kaua-ula.  A  strong  wind  that  shifted  from  one  point  to  another,  and  that  blew,  often 
with  great  violence,  at  Lahaina,  Maui.  The  above  triplet  was  often  quoted  by  the  chiefs 
of  olden  time  apropos  of  a  person  who  was  fickle  in  love  or  residence.  As  the  old  book 
has  it,  "The  double-minded  man  is  unstable  in  all  his  ways."  (O  kc  kanaka  lolilua  ka 
manao  lauwili  kona  mau  aoao  a  pau.) 


54  BUREAU   OF  AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

a  foreign  mind.  I'he  poetical  units  are  often  so  devised  that  each 
new  division  takes  its  chie  from  the  last  word  of  the  previous  verse, 
on  the  i)rinciple  of  ''  follow  your  leader,''  a  capital  feature  in 
Hawaiian  poetry. 

[Translation] 

Pa-ii  Song 

Gird  on  the  pa-u,  garment  tucked  in  one  side, 
Skirt  lacelike  and  beauteous  in  staining, 
That  is  wrapped  and  made  fast  about  the  oven. 
Bubbly  as  foam  of  falling  water  it  stands, 
5        Quintuple  skirt,  sheer  as  the  cliff  Kupe-hau. 
One  journeyed  to  work  on  it  at  Honokane. 

Have  a  care  the  pa-u  is  not  filched. 
Scent  from  the  robe  Mann  climbs  the  valley  walls — 
Abysses  profound,  heights  twisting  the  neck. 
10        A  child  is  this  steep  thing  of  the  cliff  Kau-kini, 
A  sw-elling  cloud  on  the  peak  of  Auwana. 

Wondrous  the  care  and  toil  to  make  the  pa-ii ! 
What  haste  to  finish,  when  piit  a-soak 
In  the  side-glancing  stream  of  Apua ! 
15        Caught  by  the  rain-scud  that  searches  the  glen. 
The  tinted  gown  illumines  the  pali — 

The  sheeny  steep  shot  with  buds  of  lama — 
Outshining  the  comely  malua-ula_. 
Which  one  may  seize  and  gird  with  a  strong  hand. 
20        Leaf  of  ti  for  his  malo,  Umi «  stood  covered. 

Look  at  the  olona  fibers  inwrought, 
Like  the  trickling  brooklets  of  Wai-hilau. 
The  olona  fibers  knit  with  strength 
This  dainty  immaculate  web,  the  pa-ii, 
25        And  the  filmy  weft  of  the  kilo-hana. 

With  the  small  bamboo  the  tapa  is  finished. 

A  fire  seems  to  bud  on  the  pali. 
When  the  tapa  is  spread  out  to  dry. 
Pressed  down  with  stones  at  Wai-manu — 
30        Stones  that  are  shifted  about  and  about, 
Stones  that  are  tossed  here  and  there, 
Like  work  of  the  hail-thrower  Kane. 

At  Wai-manu  finished,  'tis  cut  at  Wai-pi'o; 
Ha'i  takes  the  bamboo  Ko-a'e-kea ; 

"  Utni.  It  was  Liloa,  the  father  of  T'mi,  who  covered  himself  with  a  ti  leaf  instead 
of  a  nialo  after  the  amour  that  resulted  in  the  hirth  of  Umi.  His  malo  he  had  given 
as  a  pledge  to  the  woman  who  became  the  mother  of  Umi. 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE   OF   HAWAII  55 

35         Deftly  wields  the  knife  of  small-leafed  bamboo; 

A  bamboo  choice  and  fit  for  the  work. 

Cut,  cut  through,  cut  off  the  corners; 

Cut  round,  like  crescent  moon  of  Hoaka  ; 

Cut  in  scallops  this  shift  that  makes  tabu : 
40        A  fringe  is  this  for  the  pa-ii. 

'Tis  lifted  by  Ka-holo-ku-iwa, 

'Tis  borne  by  Pa-wili-wili ; 

A  pa-u  narrow  at  top  like  a  house, 

That's  hung  on  the  roof-tree  till  morning, 

45        Hung  on  the  roof-tree  Ha-la'a-wili. 

Make  a   bundle  fitting   the   shoulder; 

Lash  it  fast,  rolled  tight  like  a  log. 

The  bundle  falls,  red  shows  the  pali ; 

The  children  shout,  they  scream  in  derision. 
50        The  a'o  bird  shrieks  itself  hoarse 

In  wonder  at  the  pa-u — 

Pa-ti  with  a  sheen  like  Hi'i-lawe  falls, 

Bowed  like  the  rainbow  arch 

Of  the  rain  that's  now  falling. 

The  girls  of  the  olapa,  their  work  in  the  tiring-room  completed,  lift 
their  voices  in  a  spirited  song,  and  with  a  lively  motion  pass  out  into 
the  hall  to  bloom  before  the  waiting  assembly  in  the  halau  in  all  the 
glory  of  their  natural  charms  and  adornments : 

on 

Ku  ka  punohu  ula  i  ka  moana ; 
Hele  ke  ehu-kai,  uhi  i  ka  aina ; 
Olapa  ka  uila,  noho  i  Kahiki. 
Uina,  nakolo, 
5         Uwa  ka  pihe, 

Lau«  kanaka  ka  hula. 
E  Laka,  e ! 

[Translation] 
Tiring  Song 

The  rainbow  stands  red  o'er  the  ocean ; 
Mist  crawls  from  the  sea  and  covers  the  land ; 
Far  as  Kahiki  flashes  the  lightning; 
A  reverberant  roar, 
5        A  shout  of  applause 

From  the  four  hundred. 
I  appeal  to  thee,  Laka  ! 

"  Lau  (archaic).     Four  hundred. 


56  BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [boll.  38 

The  answering  song,  led  by  the  kumu,  is  in  the  same  flamboyant 
strain : 


OH 

Lele  Mahu'ilani  «  a  luna, 
Lewa  ia  Kauna-lewa  !  ^ 

[Translation] 
Song 

Lift  Mahu'ilani  on  high, 

Thy  palms  Kauna-lewa  a-waving! 

After  the  ceremony  of  the  pa-u  came  that  of  the  lei,  a  wreath  to 
crown  the  head  and  another  for  the  neck  and  shoulders.  It  w^as  not 
the  custom  in  the  old  times  to  overwhelm  the  body  with  floral  decora- 
tions and  to  blur  the  outlines  of  the  figure  to  the  point  of  disfigure- 
ment ;  nor  was  every  flower  that  blows  acceptable  as  an  offering.  The 
gods  were  jealous  and  nice  in  their  tastes,  pleased  only  Avith  flowers 
indigenous  to  the  soil — the  ilima  (pi.  vi),  the  lehua,  the  maile,  the 
ie-ie,  and  the  like  (see  pp.  19,  20).  The  ceremony  was  quickly  ac- 
complished. As  the  company  knotted  the  garlands  about  head  or 
neck,  they  sang: 

on  Lei 

Ke  lei  mai  la  o  Ka-ula  i  ke  kai,  e ! 
Ke  malamalama  o  Niihau,  ua  malie. 
A  malie,  pa  ka  Inu-wai. 
Ke  inu  mai  la  na  hala  o  Naue  i  ke  kai. 
5        No  Naue,  ka  hala,  no  Puna  ka  wahine.c 
No  ka  lua  no  i  Kllauea. 

[Translation] 

Wreath  Song 

Ka-ula  wears  the  ocean  as  a  wreath; 
Nii-hau  shines  forth  in  the  calm. 
After  the  calm  blows  the  wind  Inu-wai ; 
Naue's  palms  then  drink  in  the  salt. 
5        From  Naue  the  palm,  from  Puna  the  woman — 
Aye,  from  the  pit,  Kilauea. 

Tradition  tells  a  pathetic  story  (p.  212)  in  narrating  an  incident 
touching  the  occasion  on  which  this  song  first  was  sung. 


"Mahu'ilani.  A  po.^tloal  name  for  the  right  hand;  this  the  oīapa,  the  dancins  jrlrls. 
lifted  in  extension  as  they  entered  the  halau  from  the  dressing  room.  The  left  hand 
was  termed  Kaohi-lani. 

^  Kauna-lcira.  The  name  of  a  celehrated  grove  of  coconuts  at  Kekaha,  Kauai,  near  the 
residence  of  the  late  Mr.  Knudsen. 

<■  Wahine.  The  woman,  I'ele. 


IX.— THE  HULA  ALA'A-PAPA 

Every  formal  hula  was  regarded  by  the  people  of  the  olden  time  as 
a  sacred  and  religious  performance  {tabu)  ;  but  all  hulas  were  not 
held  to  be  of  equal  dignity  and  rank  (hanohano).  Among  those 
deemed  to  be  of  the  noblest  rank  and  honor  was  the  ala'a-papa.  In  its 
best  days  this  was  a  stately  and  dignified  performance,  comparable 
to  the  old-fashioned  courtly  minuet. 

We  shall  observe  in  this  hula  the  division  of  the  performers  into 
two  sets,  the  hoopa'a  and  the  olapa.  Attention  will  naturally  bestow 
itself  first  on  the  olapa,  a  division  of  the  company  made  up  of  splendid 
youthful  figures,  young  men,  girls,  and  women  in  the  prime  of  life. 
They  stand  a  little  apart  and  in  advance  of  the  others,  the  right  hand 
extended,  the  left  resting  upon  the  hip,  from  which  hangs  in  swelling 
folds  the  pa-u.  The  time  of  their  waiting  for  the  signal  to  begin  the 
dance  gives  the  eye  opportunity  to  make  deliberate  survey  of  the 
forms  that  stand  before  us. 

The  figures  of  the  men  are  more  finely  proportioned,  more  statu- 
esque, more  worthy  of  preservation  in  marble  or  bronze  than  those  of 
the  women.  Onl}^  at  rare  intervals  does  one  find  among  this  branch 
of  the  Polynesian  race  a  female  shape  which  from  crown  to  sole  will 
satisfy  the  canons  of  proportion — which  one  carries  in  the  eye.  That 
is  not  to  say,  however,  that  the  artistic  eye  will  not  often  meet  a  shape 
that  appeals  to  the  sense  of  grace  and  beauty.  The  springtime  of 
Hawaiian  womanly  beauty  hastes  away  too  soon.  Would  it  were 
possible  to  stay  that  fleeting  period  which  ushers  in  full  womanhood ! 

One  finds  himself  asking  the  question  to  what  extent  the  responsi- 
bility for  this  overthickness  of  leg  and  ankle — exaggerated  in  ap- 
pearance, no  doubt,  by  the  ruffled  anklets  often  worn — this  pronounced 
tendency  to  the  growth  of  that  degenerate  weed,  fat,  is  to  be  explained 
by  the  standard  of  beauty  which  held  sway  in  Hawaii's  courts  and 
for  many  ages  acted  as  a  principle  of  selection  in  the  physical  mold- 
ing of  the  Hawaiian  female. 

The  prevailing  type  of  physique  among  the  Hawaiians,  even  more 
marked  in  the  women  than  in  the  men,  is  the  short  and  thick,  as  op- 
posed to  the  graceful  and  slender.  One  does  occasionally  find  deli- 
cacy of  modeling  in  the  3^oung  and  immature;  but  with  adolescence 
fatness  too  often  comes  to  blur  the  outline. 

The  hoopa'a,  who  act  as  instrumentalists,  very  naturally  maintain 
a  position  between  sitting  and  kneeling,  the  better  to  enable  them  to 


58  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

liaiullo  that  strangely  offective  driiinlike  instrument,  the  ipu^  the  one 
musical  instrument  used  as  an  accompaniment  in  this  hula.  The 
ipu  is  made  from  the  bodies  of  two  large,  pear-shaped  calabashes 
of  unequal  sizes,  which  are  joined  together  at  their  smaller  ends  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  resemble  a  figure-of-eight.  An  opening  is  left 
at  the  top  of  the  smaller  calabash  to  increase  the  resonance.  In 
moments  of  calm  the  musicians  allow  the  body  to  rest  upon  the  heels; 
as  the  action  warms  they  lift  themselves  to  such  height  as  the  bended 
knee  will  permit. 

The  ala'a-papa  is  a  hula  of  comparatively  moderate  action.  AMiile 
the  olapa  employ  hands,  feet,  and  body  in  gesture  and  pose  to  illus- 
trate the  meaning  and  emotion  of  the  song,  the  musicians  mark  the 
time  by  lifting  and  patting  with  the  right  hand  the  ipu  each  holds  in 
the  left  hand.  If  the  action  of  the  play  runs  strong  and  stirs  the 
emotions,  each  hoopa'a  lifts  his  ipu  wildly,  fiercely  smites  it,  then 
drops  it  on  the  padded  rest  in  such  manner  as  to  bring  out  its  deep 
mysterious  tone. 

At  a  signal  from  the  kumu,  who  sits  with  the  hoopa'a,  the  poo- 
jnitt'a^  leader  of  the  olapa,  calls  the  mele  {haliea  i  ha  mele) — that  is, 
he  begins  its  recitation — in  a  tone  differing  but  little  from  that  of 
ordinary  conversation,  a  sing-song  recitation,  a  vocalization  less 
stilted  and  less  punctilious  than  that  usually  employed  in  the  utter- 
ance of  the  oli  or  mele.  The  kumu,  the  leader  of  the  company,  now 
joins  in,  mouthing  his  words  in  full  observance  of  the  mele  stjde.  His 
manner  of  cantillation  may  be  either  what  may  be  called  the  low^ 
relief,  termed  koH-honua^  or  a  pompous  alto-relievo  style,  termed 
ai-ha'a.  This  is  the  signal  for  the  whole  company  to  chime  in,  in  the 
same  style  as  the  kumu.  The  result,  as  it  seems  to  the  untutored  ear, 
is  a  confusion  of  sounds  like  that  of  the  many-tongued  roar  of  the 
ocean. 

The  songs  cantillated  for  the  hula  ala'a-papa  were  many  and  of 
great  variety.  It  seems  to  have  been  the  practice  for  the  kumu  to 
arrange  a  number  of  mele,  or  poetical  pieces,  for  presentation  in  the 
hula  in  such  order  as  pleased  him.  These  different  mele,  thus  ar- 
ranged, were  called  pcdc^  compartments,  or  mahele^  divisions,  as  if 
they  were  integral  parts  of  one  whole,  while  in  reality  their  relation 
to  one  another  was  only  that  of  the  juxtaposition  imposed  upon  them 
by  the  kumu. 

The  poetical  pieces  first  to  be  presented  Avere  communicated  to  the 
author  as  rnnhelr^  divisions — hafdly  cantos — in  the  sense  above  de- 
fined. They  are.  however,  distinct  poems,  though  there  chances  to  run 
through  them  all  a  somewhat  similar  motive.  The  origin  of  many  of 
these  is  referred  to  a  past  so  remote  that  tradition  assigns  them  to 
what  the  ITawaiians  call  the  wa  po,  the  night  of  tradition,  or  they 
say  of  them,  no  kc  alcffa  mai,  they  are  from  the  gods.     It  matters  not 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  59 

how  faithful  has  been  the  effort  to  translate  these  poems,  they  will 
not  be  found  easy  of  comprehension.  The  local  allusions,  the  point 
of  view,  the  atmosphere  that  were  in  the  mind  of  the  savage  are  not 
in  our  minds  to-day,  and  will  not  again  be  in  any  mind  on  earth ;  they 
defy  our  best  efforts  at  reproduction.  To  conjure  up  the  ghostly 
semblance  of  these  dead  impalpable  things  and  make  them  live  again 
is  a  problem  that  must  be  solved  by  each  one  Avith  such  aid  from  the 
divining  rod  of  the  imagination  as  the  reader  can  summon  to  his  help. 
Now  for  the  play,  the  song: 

Mele  no  ka  Hula  AWa-papa 

MAHELE-HELE   I 
Pauku  1 

A  Koolaii  wail,  ike  i  ka  na, 
E  ko-kolo  la-lepo  ana  ka  ua, 
E  ka'i  kii  ana,  ka'i  mai  ana  ka  ua, 
E  nu  mai  ana  ka  ua  i  ke  kualiiwi, 
5        E  po'i  ana  ka  ua  me  he  nalu  la. 
E  puka,  a  puka  mai  Iva  ua  la. 
Waliwali  ke  one  i  ka  helii'a  e  ka  ua ; 
Ua  holo-wai  na  kalia-wai ; 
Ua  ko-ke  wale  na  pali. 
10        Aia  ka  wai  la  i  ka  ilina,"  he  ilio, 
He  ilio  hae,  ke  nahu  nei  e  puka. 

[Translation] 

Song  for  the  Hula  AM'a-papa. 
CANTO   I 

Stanza  1 

'Twas  in  Koolau  I  met  with  the  rain : 
It  comes  with  lifting  and  tossing  of  dust, 
Advancing  in  columns,  dashing  along. 
The  rain,  it  sighs  in  the  forest ; 
5        The  rain,  it  beats  and  whelms,  like  the  surf; 
It  smites,  it  smites  now  the  land. 
Pasty  the  earth  from  the  stamping  rain ; 
Full  run  the  streams,  a  rushing  flood ; 
The  mountain  walls  leap  with  the  rain. 
10        See  the  water  chafing  its  bounds  like  a  dog, 
A  raging  dog,  gnawing  its  way  to  pass  out. 

This  song  is  from  the  story  of  Hiiaka  on  her  journey  to  Kauai  to 
bring  the  handsome  prince,  Lohiau,  to  Pele.  The  region  is  that  on 
the  windward,  Koolau^  side  of  Oahu. 

"  Ilina.  A  sink,  a  place  where  a  stream  sinks  into  ttie  earth  or  sand. 


60  BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

1»AUKU  2 

Hoopono  oe,  be  aiiia  kai  Waialua  i  ka  haii; 
Ke  olelo «  wale  no  la  i  ka  lani. 
Lobe  ka  uka  o  ka  pebu  i  Ku-kani-loko.^ 
I-loko,  i-wabo  kaua  la,  e  ka  boa, 
5        I  kabi  e  pau  ai  o  ka  oui? 

Oni  ana  i  ka  maiiawa  o  ka  lili, 
Pee  00,  poe  ana  iloko  o  ka  bilahila. 
I  bilabila  wale  la  no  e  oe; 
Nou  no  ka  hale,^  konio  niai  nialoko. 

The  lines  from  the  fourth  to  the  nintli  in  this  stanza  (paiiku) 
represent  a  dialogue  between  two  lovers. 

[Translation] 

Stanza    2 

Look  now,  Waialua,   laud  clotbed  witb  ocean-mist — 
Its  wilderness-cries  beaven's  ear  only  hears, 
"»  Tbe  wilderness-gods  of  Ku-kani-loko. 

Witbin  or  witbout  sball  we  stay,  friend, 
5         Until  we  bave  stilled  tbe  motion? 
To  toss  is  a  sign  of  impatience. 
You  bide,  biding  as  if  from  sbame. 
I  am  basbful  because  of  your  presence; 
Tbe  bouse  is  yours,  you've  only  to  enter. 

Pauku    3 
(Ko'i-bonua) 

Paku  Kea-au,*^  lulu  Wai-akea;^ 
Xobo  i  ka  la*i  loa  o  Hana-kabi,^ 
O  Hilo,  i  olokea  ^  ia,  i  an  la,  e,  i  kai, 
O  Lele-iwi,*  o  Maka-bana-loa.' 
5        Me  be  kaele-papa  J  la  Hilo,  i  lalo  ka  nobo. 
Kaele^'  wale  Hilo  i  ke  alai  ia  e  ka  ua. 
Oi  ka  nibo  o  ka  ua  o  Hilo  i  ka  lani ; 
Kua-wa'a-wa'a  Hilo  i  eli  'a  e  ka  wai; 
Kai-koo,  baki  na  nalu,  ka  ua  o  Hilo; 

°  Oīelo.  To  speak,  to  converse ;  here  used  figuratively  to  mean  that  the  place  is  lonely, 
has  no  view  of  the  ocean.  lo«»ks  only  to  the  sky.     "  Looks  that  commerce  with  the  sky." 

*  Ku-kani-loko.  A  land  In  Waialua.  Oahu.  to  which  princesses  resorted  in  the  olden 
times  at  the  time  of  childbirth,  that  their  offspring  might  have  the  distinction  of  being 
an  alii  kai»u,  a  chief  with  a  tabu. 

*■  Hale.   House  ;  a  familiar  euphemism  of  the  human  body. 

''  h'rn-au.  An  nhii-iniaUi.  small  division  of  land,  in  Puna  adjoining  Ililo.  represented  as 
sheltering  Hilo  on  that  side. 

*■  Waiakcd.  A  river  in  Hilo.  and  the  land  through  which  it  tlows. 

f  Ilanakuhi.  A  land  on  the  Ilamakua  side  of  Hilo.  also  a  king  whose  name  was  a 
synonym  for  profound  peace. 

'  Olo-kva.  To  be  invited  or  pulU^d  many  ways  at  once;  distracted. 

*  Lclc-itci.  A   cape  on   the  nortli   side  of   Hilo. 

*  Maka-hana-loa.  A   cape. 

i  KarU-papa.  A  large,  round,  hollowed  l)oard  on  which  to  pound  taro  in  the  making  of 
poi.     The  poi-l)o:ird  was  usually  h)ng  and  oval. 

*  Kaclc.  In  this  connection  the  meaning  Is  surrounded,  encompassed  by. 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE   OF   HAWAII  61 

10        Ha"i  lan-wili  mai  ka  nahele. 

Nanalu,  kahe  waikahe  o  Wai-luku ; 

Hohouii  Waiau,"  iialo  ke  poo  o  ka  lae  o  Moku-pane;^ 

Wai  ulaula  o  Wai-anue-uue ;  ^ 

Ka-wowo  niii  i  ka  wai  o  Kolo-pule-pule  ;^ 
15        Halnlu  i  ha-ku'i,  ku  me  he  uahi  la 

Ka  pna  o  ka  wai  ua  o-aka  i  ka  lani. 

Eleele  Hilo  e,  pane  e,  i  ka  ua  ; 

Okakala  ka  hulu  o  Hilo  i  ke  anu ; 

Pili-kau  ^  mai  Hilo  ia  ua  loa. 
20        Pali-ku  laau  ka  uka  o  Haili/ 

Ka  lae  ohi'a  e  kope-kope, 

Me  lie  aha  moa  la,  ka  pale  pa  laau, 

Ka  nahele  o  Pa-ie-ie,^ 

Ku'u  po'e  lehua  iwaena  kouu  o  Mo-kau-lele;* 
25         Me  ka  ha'i  laau  i  pu-kaula  hala'i  i  ka  ua. 

Ke  mma  ia  la  e  la'i  i  Hanakahi. 

Oni  aku  Hilo,  oni  ku'u  kai  lipo-lipo, 

A  Lele-iwi,  ku'u  kai  ahu  mimiki  a  ka  Malua.* 

Lei  kahiko,  lei  nalu  ka  poai. 
30        Nana  Pu'u-eo,-''  e !  makai  ka  iwi-homia,'^  e  1 

Puna-hoa  la,  ino,  ku,  ku  wau  a  Wai-akea  la. 

[Translation] 

Stanza  3 

(With  distinct  utterance) 

Kea-au  shelters,  Waiakea  lies  in  the  calm, 
The  deep  peace  of  King  Hana-kahi. 
Hilo,  of  many  diversions,  swims  in  the  ocean, 
'Tween  Point  Lele-iwi  and  Maka-hana-loa ; 
5        And  the  village  rests  in  the  bowl, 
Its  border  surrounded  with  rain — 
Sharp  from  the  sky  the  tooth  of  Hilo's  rain. 
Trenched  is  the  land,  scooped  out  by  the  downpour — 
Tossed  and  like  gnawing  surf  is  Hilo's  rain — 
10        Beach  strewn  with  a  tangle  of  thicket  growth ; 
A  billowy  freshet  pours  in  Wailuku ; 
Swoll'n  is  Wai-au,  flooding  the  point  Moku-pane; 
And  red  leaps  the  water  of  Anue-nue. 
A  roar  to  heaven  sends  up  Kolo-pule, 

«  M'akm.  The  name  given  to  the  stretch  of  Wailuku  river  near  its  mouth. 

^Moku-pane.  The  cape  between  the  mouth  of  the  Wailuku  river  and  the  town  of  Hilo. 

<^  Wai-unue-nue.  Rainbow  falls  and  the  river  that  makes  the  leap. 

<*  Kolo-i)iiIe-puīe.  Another  branch  of  the  Wailuku  stream. 

«  PiU-kau.  To  hang  low,  said  of  a  cloud. 

f  Haili.  A  region  in  the  inland,  woody,  part  of  Hilo. 

0  Pa-ieie.  A  well-wooded  part  of  Hilo,  once  much  resorted  to  by  bird-hunters  ;  a  place 
celebrated  in  Hawaiian  song. 

^  Jlokau-lcJe.  A  wild,  woody  region  in  the  interior  of  Hilo. 

*  Malua.  Name  given  to  a  wind  from  a  northerly  or  northwesterly  direction  on  several 
of  the  islands.     The  full  form  is  Malua-lua. 

}  Pu'u-eo.  A  village  in  the  Hilo  district  near  Puna. 

^  Iici-honua.  Literally  a  bone  of  the  earth:  a  projecting  rock  or  a  shoal;  if  in  the 
water,  an  object  to  be  avoided  by  the  surf-rider.     In  this  connection  see  note  o,  p.  36. 


62  BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

15         Shaking  like  thunder,  mist  rising  like  smoke. 

The  rain-elond  unfolds  in  the  heavens; 

Dark  grows  Ililo,  black  with  the  rain. 

The  skin  of  Ililo  grows  rough  from  the  cold; 

The  storm-cloud  hangs  low  o'er  the  land. 
20        A  rampart  stand  the  woods  of  Haili; 

Ohi'as  thick-set  must  be  brushed  aside, 

To  tear  oue's  way,  like  a  covey  of  fowl, 

In  the  wilds  of  Pa-ie-ie — 

liChua  growths  mine — heart  of  Mokau-lele. 
25        A  breaking,  a  weaving  of  boughs,  to  shield  from  rain ; 

A  look  enraptured  on  Hana-kahi, 

Sees  Ililo  astir,  the  blue  ocean  tossing 

Wind-thrown-spray — dear  sea — 'gainst  Point  l.ele-iwi — 

A  time-worn  foam-wreath  to  encircle  its  brow. 
30        Look,  Pu'u-eo !  guard  'gainst  the  earth-rib ! 

It's  Puna-hoa  reef ;  halt ! 

At  Waiakea  halt ! 

Pauku  4 
J  (Ai-ha'a) 

Kua  loloa  Kea-au  i  ka  nahele ; 

Ilala  kua  hulu-hulu  Pana-ewa  i  ka  laau ; 

Inoino  ka  maha  o  ka  ohia  o  La'a. 

Ua  ku  kepakepa  ka  maha  o  ka  lehua ; 
5         Ua  po-po'o-hina  i  ka  wela  a  ke  Akua. 

Ua  u-ahi  Puna  i  ka  oloka'a  pohaku, 

I  ka  huna  pa'a  ia  e  ka  wahine. 

Nanahu  ahi  ka  piapa  o  Olu-ea ; 

Momoku  ahi  Puna  hala  i  Apua ; 
10        Ulu-a  ka  nahele  me  ka  laau. 

Oloka'a  kekahi  ko'i  e  Papa-lau-ahi ; 

I  eli  'a  kahi  ko'i  e  Ku-lili-kaua. 

Kai-ahea  a  hala  i  Ka-li'u ; 

A  eu  e,  e  ka  La,  ka  ma  lama-lama. 
15         O-na-naka  ka  piko  o  Hilo  ua  me  ke  one, 

I  hull  i  uka  la,  i  hulihia  i  kai; 

Ua  wa-wahi  'a,  ua  ua-ha-ha, 

L^a  he-hele-lei ! 

[Transljitionl 

Stanza  4 

(Bombastic  style) 

Ke'-au  is  a  long  strip  of  wildwood; 
Shag  of  pandanus  mantles  Pan'-ewa ; 
Scraggy  the  branching  of  Laa's  ohias; 
The  lehua  limbs  at  sixes  and  sevens — 
5         They  are  gray  from  the  heat  of  the  goddess. 


EMERSO-N]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  63 

Puna  smokes  mid  the  bowling  of  rocks — 

Wood  and  rock  the  She-god  heaps  in  confusion, 

The  plain  Oluea  's  one  bed  of  live  coals; 

Puna  is  strewn  with  fires  clean  to  Apua, 
10        Thickets  and  tall  trees  a-blazing. 

Sweep  on,  oh  fire-ax,  thy  flame-shooting  flood ! 

Smit  by  this  ax  is  Ku-lili-kaua. 

It's  a  flood  tide  of  lava  clean  to  Kali'u, 

And  the  Sun,  the  light-giver,  is  conquered. 
15        The  bones  of  wet  Hilo  rattle  from  drought; 

She  turns  for  comfort  to  mountain,  to  sea, 

Fissured  and  broken,  resolved  into  dust. 

This  poem  is  taken  from  the  story  of  Hiiaka.  On  her  return  from 
the  journey  to  fetch  Lohiau  she  found  that  her  sister  Pele  had  treach- 
erously ravaged  with  fire  Puna,  the  district  that  contained  her  oAvn 
dear  woodlands.  The  description  given  in  the  poem  is  of  the  result- 
ing desolation. 

Pauku  5 

No-luna  ka  Hale-kai,"  no  ka  ma'a-lewa,^ 
Nana  ka  maka  ia  Moana-nui-ka-lehua.<^ 
Noi  an  i  ke  Kai,  e  mali'o.^ 
Ina  ku  a'e  la  he  lehua  ^  ilaila ! 
5         Hopoe-lehua  f  kiekie. 

Maka'u  ka  lehua  i  ke  kanaka,^ 

Lilo  Halo  e  hele  ai,  e-e, 

A  Halo  hoi. 

O  Kea-au  *  ili-ili  nehe  ke  kai, 

"  Haīe-kai.  A  wild  mountain  glen  back  of  Hanalei  valley,  Kauai. 

*  Ma'aleica.  An  aerial  root  that  formed  a  sort  of  ladder  by  which  one  climbed  the 
mountain   steeps ;   literally  a   shaking  sling. 

'^  iloana-nui-ka-Jehun.  A  female  demigod  that  came  from  the  South  (Ku-kuhi-o-Kahiki) 
at  about  the  same  mythical  period  as  that  of  Pele's  arrival — if  not  in  her  company — and 
who  was  put  in  charge  of  a  portion  of  the  channel  that  lies  between  Kauai  and  Oahu. 
This  channel  was  generally  termed  le-ie-icaena  and  le-ie-icaho.  Here  the  name  Jloana- 
nui-ka-īehua  seems  to  be  used  to  indicate  the  sea  as  well  as  the  demigoddess,  whose  do- 
minion it  was.  Ordinarily  she  appeared  as  a  powerful  fish,  but  she  was  capable  of  as- 
suming the  form  of  a  beautiful  woman  (mermaid?).  The  title  lehua  was  given  her  on 
account  of  her  womanly  charms. 

'  ^  MaWo.  Apparently  another  form  of  the  word   malino,  calm;  at  any  rate  it  has  the 
same   meaning. 

^  Lehua.  An  allusion  to  the  ill-fated  young  woman  Hopoe,  who  was  Hiiaka's  intimate 
friend.     The  allusion  is  amplified  in  the  next  line. 

t  Hopoe-lehua.  The  lehua  tree  was  one  of  the  forms  in  which  Hopoe  appeared,  and 
after  her  death,  due  to  the  jealous  rage  of  Pele,  she  was  turned  into  a  charred  lehua  tree 
which  stood  on  the  coast  subject  to  the  beating  of  the  surf. 

^  Maka'u  ka  lehua  i  ke  kanaka.  Another  version  has  it  ilaka'u  ke  kanaka  i  ka  lehua; 
Man  fears  the  lehua.  The  form  here  used  is  perhaps  an  ironical  allusion  to  man's  fond- 
ness not  only  to  despoil  the  tree  of  its  scarlet  flowers,  but  womanhood,  the  woman  it 
represented. 

h  Kea-au.  Often  shortened  in  pronunciation  to  Ke-au,  a  fishing  village  in  Puna  near 
Hilo  town.     It  now  has  a  landing  place  for  small  vessels. 


64  BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

10        Iloo-lono''  ke  kai  o  Puua 

1  ka  11  111  ha  la  la,  e-e, 

Kai-ko'o  Puna. 

la  hooiieeuee  ia  pili  iiiai  ^  kaiia,  e  ke  boa, 

Ke  wailio  e  iiiai  la  oe  ilaila. 
15        Eia  ka  mea  iiio  la,  be  aim, 

A  he  anil  me  he  mea  la  iwabo  kaua,  e  ke  boa; 

Me  be  wai  la  ko  kaua  ill. 

The  author  of  this  poem  of  venerable  age  is  not  known.  It  is 
spoken  of  as  belonging  to  the  ira  po,  the  twilight  of  tradition.  It  is 
represented  to  be  part  of  a  niele  taught  to  Hiiaka  by  her  friend  and 
precei)tress  in  the  hula,  Ilopoe.  Hopoe  is  often  called  IIopoe-wahi?ie, 
From  internal  evidence  one  can  see  that  it  can  not  be  in  form  the  same 
as  was  given  to  Hiiaka  by  Hopoe;  it  may  have  been  founded  on  the 
poem  of  Hopoe.     If  so,  it  has  been  modified. 

[Translation] 

Stanza  5 

From  mountain  retreat  and  root-woven  ladder 

Mine  eye  looks  down  on  goddess  Moana-Lebua ; 

I  beg  of  the  Sea,  Be  thou  calm ; 

Would  there  might  stand  on  thy  shore  a  lehua — 
5        Lehua-tree  tall  of  Ho-poe. 

The  lehua  is  fearful  of  man ; 

It  leaves  him  to  walk  on  the  ground  below, 

To  walk  the  ground  far  below. 

The  pebbles  at  Ke'-au  grind  in  the  surf. 
10        The  sea  at  Ke'-au  shouts  to  Puna's  palms, 

"  Pierce  is  the  sea  of  Puna." 

Move  hither,  snug  close,  companion  mine ; 

You  lie  so  aloof  over  there. 

Oh  what  a  bad  fellow  is  cold ! 
15         'Tis  as  if  we  were  out  on  the  wold ; 

Our  bodies  so  clammy  and  chill,  friend ! 

The  last  five  verses,  which  sound  like  a  love  song,  may  possibly  be 
a  modern  addition  to  this  old  poem.  The  sentiment  they  contain  is 
comparable  to  that  expressed  in  the  Song  of  Welcome  on  page  39: 


Kia  ka  pu'u  nui  o  waho  nei,  he  anu. 

The  hill  of  Afllictitm  out  there  is  the  cold. 


°  Hooīono.  To  call,  to  make  an  uproar,  to  spread  a  report. 

"  la  hoo-nec-nee  ia  pili  mai.  A  very  peculiar  figure  of  speech.  It  Is  as  if  the  poet  per- 
sonified the  act  of  two  lovers  snuggling  up  close  to  each  other.  Compare  with  this  the 
expression  Vo  huU  mai,  used  by  another  poet  in  the  thirteenth  line  of  the  lyric  given 
on  p.  1*04.     The  motive  Is  the  same  In  each  case. 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE   OF   HAWAII  65 

MAHELE-HELE   II 

Hi'u-o-lani,«  kii  ka  ua  o  Hilo  ^  i  ka  lani; 
Ke  hookiikii  mai  la  ke  ao  o  Piia-laui;^ 
O  mahele  aiia,*^  pulu  Hilo  i  ka  ua — 

0  Hilo  Haiia-kahi/' 

5        Ha'i  ka  iialu,  wai  kaka  lepo  o  Pii-lani; 
Hai'na  ka  iwi  o  Hilo, 

1  ke  kn  ia  e  ka  wai. 

Oni'o  lele  a  ka  na  o  Hilo  i  ka  lani. 

Ke  hookiikii  mai  la  ke  ao  o  Pua-lani, 
10         Ke  holuliolii  a'e  la  e  piika, 

Puka  e  nana  ke  kiki  a  ka  ua, 

Ka  nonoho  a  ka  ua  i  ka  hale  o  Hilo. 

Like  Hilo  me  Puna  ke  ku  a  mauna-ole/ 
He  ole  ke  ku  a  mauna  Hilo  me  Puna. 
15        He  kowa  Puna  mawaena  Hilo  me  Ka-u; 
Ke  pili  wale  la  i  ke  kua  i  mauna-ole ; 
Pili  hoohaha  i  ke  kua  o  Mauna-loa. 

He  kuahiwi  Ka-ti  e  pa  ka  makani. 
Ke  alai  ia  a'e  la  Ka-ti  e  ke  A'e ;  9 
20        Ka-u  ku  ke  ehu  lepo  ke  A'e; 

Ku  ke  ehu-lepo  mai  la  Ka-u  i  ka  makani. 
Makani  Kawa  hu'a-lepo  Ka-u  i  ke  A'-e. 

"  nVu-o-luni.  A  very  blind  phrase.  Hawaiians  disagree  as  to  its  meaning.  In  the 
author's  opinion,  it  is  a  word  referring  to  the  conjurer's  art. 

''  Ua  o  Hilo.  Hilo  is  a  very  rainy  country.  The  name  Hilo  seems  to  be  used  here  as 
almost  a  synonym  of  violent  rain.  It  calls  to  mind  the  use  of  the  word  Hilo  to  signify 
a  strong  wind  : 

Pa  mai,   pa  mai, 
Ka   makani  a   Hilo  !* 
Waiho   ka   ipu    iki, 
Homai  ka  ipu  nui ! 

[Translation] 

Blow,  blow,  thou  wind  of  Hilo  ! 
Leave   the   little   calabash. 
Bring  on  the  big  one  ! 

«^  Pua-lani.  The  name  of  a  deity  who  took  the  form  of  the  rosy  clouds  of  morning. 

<*  Mahele  ana.  Literally  the  dividing  ;  an  allusion  to  the  fact,  it  is  said,  that  in  Ililo 
a  rain-cloud,  or  rain-squall,  as  it  came  up  would  often  divide  and  a  part  of  it  turn  off 
toward  Puna  at  the  cape  named  Lele-iwi,  one-half  watering,  in  the  direction  of  the 
present  town,  the  land  known  as   Hana-kahi. 

<■  Hana-kahi.  Look  at  note  f,  p.  60. 

f  Mauna  ole.  According  to  one  authority  this  should  be  Mauna-Hilo.  Verses  1.3,  14, 
16.  and  17  are  difficult  of  translation.  The  play  on  the  words  ku  a,  standing  at,  or 
standing  by,  and  kua,  the  back ;  also  on  the  word  koioa,  a  gulf  or  strait ;  and  the 
repetition  of  the  word  mauna,  mountain — all  this  is  carried  to  such  an  extent  as  to  be 
quite  unintelligible  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  mind,  though  full  of  significance  to  a  Hawaiian. 

0  A'e.  A  strong  wind  that  prevails  in  Ka-u.  The  same  word  also  means  to  step  on, 
to  climb.  This  double-meaning  gives  the  poet  opportunity  for  a  euphuistic  word-play 
that  was  much  enjoyed  by  the  Hawaiians.  The  Hawaiians  of  the  present  day  are  not 
quite  up  to  this  sort  of  logomachy. 

*  Hilo,  or  Whiro,  as  in  the  Maori,  was  a  great  navigator. 
25352— Bull.  38—09 5 


66  BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

Kaliiko  mail  no  o  Ka-tl  i  ka  makani. 
Makani  ka  Lae-ka-ilio  i  Unu-laii, 
25        Kaili-ki'i°  a  ka  liia  a  Kalieahea,^ 
*  I  ka  lia'a  uawali  ia  inc. 

I  no  wa  o  ka  mankani  o  Kan-na. 
Nana  aku  o  ka  makani  malaila  ! 
O  Ilono-malino,  malino  i  ka  la'i  o  Kona. 
30        lie  inoa  la  ! 

•  [Translation] 

CANTO  II 

Heaven-magic,  fetch  a  Hilo-pour  from  heaven! 
Morn's  cloud-bnds,  look !  they  swell  in  the  East. 
The  rain-cloud  parts,  Hilo  is  deluged  with  rain, 
The  Hilo  of  King  Hana-kahi. 

5        Surf  breaks,  stirs  the  mire  of  Pii-lani; 
Tlie  bones  of  Hilo  are  broken 
By  the  blows  of  the  rain. 
Ghostly  the  rain-scud  of  Hilo  in  heaven ; 

The  cloud-forms  of  Pua-lani  grow  and  thicken. 
10        The  rain-priest  bestirs  him  now  to  go  forth, 

Forth  to  observe  the  stab  and  thrust  of  the  rain, 
The  rain  that  clings  to  the  roof  of  Hilo. 

Hilo,  like  Puna,  stands  mountainless ; 
Aye,  mountain-free  stand  Hilo  and  Puna. 
15         Puna  's  a  gulf  'twixt  Ka-u  and  Hilo; 

Just  leaning  her  back  on  Mount  Nothing, 
She  sleeps  at  the  feet  of  Mount  Loa. 

A  mountain-back  is  Ka-fi  which  the  wind  strikes, 
Ka-ū,  a  land  much  scourged  by  the  A'e. 
20        A  dust-cloud  lifts  in  Ka-u  as  one  climbs. 
A  dust-bloom  floats,  the  lift  of  the  wind : 
'Tis  blasts  from  mountain-walls  piles  dust,  the  A'e. 

Ka-u  was  always  tormented  with  wind. 
Cape-of-the-Dog  feels  Unulau's  blasts; 
25         They  turmoil  the  cove  of  Ka-hea-hea, 

Defying  all  strength  with  their  violence. 

There's  a  storm  when  wind  blows  at  Kau-ua. 
Just  look  jit  the  tempest  there  raging! 
Hono-malino  sleeps  sheltered  by  Kona. 
30         A  eulogy  this  of  a  name. 

"  Wliat  iianio?"  was  asked  of  (he  old  Hawaiian. 
"A  god,''  said  he. 

'*  How  is  that  t     A  luele-inoa  celebrates  the  name  and  glory  of  a 
king,  not  of  a  god.'' 

"  Kaili-ki'i.  The  promontory  that  shelters  the  cove  Ko-hcica-hcira. 

''  Ka-fua-hrn.  The  name  of  the  cove  Ka-hcira-lirifo,  above  mentioned,  is  liere  given  in  a 
softened   form  obtained  by  the  elision  of  the  letter   w. 


EMERSOX]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  67 

His  answer  was,  **  The  gods  composed  the  mele ;  men  did  not  com- 
pose it." 

Like  an  old-time  geologist,  he  solved  the  puzzle  of  a  novel  phe- 
nomenon by  ascribing  it  to  God. 

MAHELE   III 
(Ai-ha'a) 

A  Koa'e-kea,<^  i  Pueo-hiiln-nui,'^ 

Neeu  a'e  la  ka  makahiapo  o  ka  pali; 

A  a'e,  a  a'e,  a'e  ^  la  iluna 

Kaholo-kua-iwa,  ka  pali  o  Ha'i.*' 
5        Ha'i  a'e  la  ka  pali; 

Ha-uu'ii  ka  pali; 

Hala  e  Malu-6 ; 

Hala  a'e  la  Ka-maha-Ia'a-wili, 

Ke  kaupoku  hale  a  ka  ua. 
10         Me  he  mea  i  uwae'na  a'e  la  ka  pali ; 

Me  he  hale  pi'o  ka  lei  na  ka  manawa  o  ka  pali  Halehale-o-ū ; 

Me  he  aho  i  hilo  'a  la  ka  wai  o  Wai-hi-lau ; 

Me  he  uahi  pulehu-manu  la  ke  kai  o  ka  auwala  hula  ana. 

Au  ana  Maka'u-kiu  ^  iloko  o  ke  kai ; 
15         Pohaku  lele  ^  o  Lau-nui,  Lau-pahoehoe.* 

Ka  eku'na  a  ke  kai  i  ka  ala  o  Ka-wai-kapu — 

Eku  ana,  me  he  pua'a  la,  ka  lae  Makani-lele, 

Koho-la-lele. 

[Translation! 

CANTO   III 

(Bombastic  style) 

Haunt  of  white  tropic-bird  and  big  ruffled  owl. 
Up  rises  the  first-born  child  of  the  pali. 
He  climbs,  he  climbs,  he  climbs  up  aloft, 
Kaholo-ku'-iwa,  the  pali  of  Ha'i. 
5        Accomplished  now  is  the  steep. 
The  ladder-like  series  of  steps. 
Malu-6  is  left  far  below. 

» Koa'€'kea,  Pueo  hulu-nui.  Steep  declivities,  pali,  on  the  side  of  Waipio  valley,  Ha- 
waii. Instead  of  inserting  these  names,  which  would  be  meaningless  without  an  expla- 
nation,, the  author  has  given  a  literal  translation  of  the  names  themselves,  thus  getting 
a  closer  insight  into  the  Hawaiian  thought. 

*  A'e.  The  precipices  rise  one  above  another  like  the  steps  of  a  stairway,  climbing, 
climbing  up,  though  the  probable  intent  of  the  poet  is  to  represent  some  one  as  climbing 
the  ascent. 

<^  Ha'i.  Short  for  Ha'ina-kolo :  a  woman  about  whom  there  is  a  story  of  tragic  adven- 
ture. Through  eating  when  famished  of  some  berries  in  an  unceremonious  way  she 
became  distraught  and  wandered  about  for  many  months  until  discovered  by  the  per- 
sistent efforts  of  her  husband.     The  pali  which  she  climbed  was  named  after  her. 

^Maka'u-kiu.  The  name  of  a  famous  huge  shark  that  was  regarded  with  reverential 
fear. 

«  Pohaku  lele.  In  order  to  determine  whether  a  shark  was  present,  it  was  the  custom, 
before  going  into  the  clear  water  of  some  of  the.se  coves,  to  throw  rocks  into  the  water 
in  order  to  disturb  the  monster  and  make  his  presence  known. 


68  BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

Passed  is  Ka-maha-la'-wili, 

The  very  ridge-pole  of  the  rain — 
10         It's  as  if  the  peak  cut  it  in  twain — 

An  arched  roof  the  pealv's  crest  Ilale-hale-o-Ci. 

A  twisted  cord  hangs  the  brook  Wai-hilan: 

Like  smoke  from  roasting  bird  Ocean's  wild  dance; 

The  shark-god  is  swimming  the  sea; 
15        The  rocks  leap  down  at  Big-leaf  °  and  P'lat-leaf — « 

See  the  ocean  charge  'gainst  the  cliffs, 

Thrust  snout  like  rooting  boar  against  Windy-cape, 

Against  Kohola-lele. 

MAIIELE   IV 

''  Hole  ^  Waimea  1  ka  ihe  a  ka  makani, 

Hao  mai  na  ale  a  ke  Ki-pu'u-pu'u  ;^ 

He  laau  kala-ihi  ia  na  ke  anu, 

I  o'o  i  ka  uahele  o  Mahiki.*^ 
5         Ku  aku  la  oe  i  ka  Malanai '"  a  ke  Ki-puu-puu; 

Nolu  ka  maka  o  ka  oha-wai  f  o  Uli ; 

Niniau,  eha  ka  pua  o  Koaie,i' 

Eha  i  ke  anu  ka  uahele  o  Wai-ka-e, 

A  he  aloha,  e  I 
10        Aloha  Wai-ka  ia'u  me  he  ipo  la ; 

Me  he  ipo  la  ka  maka  lena  o  ke  Koo-lau,* 

Ka  pua  i  ka  uahele  o  Mahnle-i-a, 

E  lei  hele  i  ke  alo  o  Moo-lauJ 

E  lau  ka  huaka'i-hele  i  ka  pali  loa ;  x 

15         Hele  hihiu,  pili,-'  noho  i  ka  nahele. 

O  ku'u  noho  wale  iho  no  i  kahua,  e-e. 

A  he  aloha,  e-e ! 

O  kou  aloha  ka  i  hiki  mai  i  o'n  nei. 

Mahea  la  ia  i  nalo  iho  nei? 

This  mele,  Hole  Waimea^  is  also  sung  in  connection  with  the 
hula  ipu. 

"  Jiig-leaf.   A  literal  translation  of  Lau-nui.     Laupahoehoe,  Flat-leaf. 

''  IJolc.  To  i*asp,  to  handle  rudely,  to  caress  passionately.  Waimea  is  a  district  and 
villajje  on   Hawaii. 

'^  Kipu'u-piru.  A  cold  wind  from  Mauna-Kea  that  blows  at  Waimea. 

<*  Mahiki.   A  woodland  in  Waimea,  in  mythological  times  haunted  by  demons  and  spooks. 

*  Malanai.  The  poetical  name  of  a  wind,  probably  the  trade  wind  ;  a  name  much  used 
In  Hawaiian  sentimental  poetry. 

f  Oha-icai.  A  water  hole  that  is  filled  by  dripping;  an  important  source  of  supply  for 
drlnkinj?  purposes  in  certain  parts  of  Hawaii. 

0  Pua  o  Koair.  The  koaie  is  a  tree  that  grows  in  the  wilds,  the  blossom  of  which  is 
extremely  fragrant.  (Not  the  same  as  that  subspecies  of  the  loa  (Acacia  koa)  which 
Hillebrand  describes  and  wrongly  spells  koaia.     Here  a  euphemism  for  the  delicate  parts.) 

^  Koolau,  or.  full  form,  Ko-koo-luu.  Described  by  Doctor  Hillebrand  as  Kokolau,  a  wrong 
spelllnj,'.  It  has  a  pretty  yellow  flower,  a  yellow  eye — maka  hna — as  the  song  has  it. 
Hero  used  tropically.  (This  is  the  plant  whose  leaf  is  sometimes  used  as  a  substitute 
for  tea.) 

<  iloolau.  An  expression  used  figuratively  to  mean  a  woman,  more  especially  her  breasts. 
The  term  huH-Iau  Is  also  ustni.  In  a  slang  way.  to  signify  the  1)reasts  of  a  woman,  the 
l»rlmltlve  meaning  being  a  calabash. 

J  Pili.  To  touch  ;  touched.  This  was  the  word  used  in  the  forfeit-paying  love  game. 
kiln,  when  the  player  made  a  point  by  hitting  the  target  of  his  opponent  with  his  kilu. 
(For  further  description  see  p.  235.) 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN    LITERATURE   OF    HAWAII  69 

The  song  above  given,  the  translation  of  wliich  is  to  follow,  belongs 
to  historic  times,  being  ascribed  to  King  Liholiho — Kamehanieha 
II — who  died  in  London  July  13,  1824,  on  his  visit  to  England.  It 
attained  great  vogue  and  still  holds  its  popularity  with  the  Hawaiians. 
The  reader  will  note  the  comparative  effeminacy  and  sentimentality 
of  the  style  and  the  frequent  use  of  euphemisms  and  double-entendre. 
The  double  meaning  in  a  Hawaiian  mele  will  not  always  be  evident 
to  one  whose  acquaintance  with  the  language  is  not  intimate.  To  ono 
who  comes  to  it  from  excursions  in  Anglo-Saxon  poetry,  wandering 
through  its  '*  meadows  trim  with  daisies  pied,*'  the  sly  intent  of  the 
Hawaiian,  even  when  pointed  out,  will,  no  doubt,  seem  an  inconse- 
quential thing  and  the  demonstration  of  it  an  impertinence,  if  not  a 
fiction  to  the  imagination.  Its  euphemisms  in  reality  have  no  baser 
intent  than  the  euphuisms  of  Lyly.  Ben  Jonson,  or  Shakespeare. 

[Translation] 

Song — HrAe  Waimea 

PART  IV 

Love  tousled  Waimea  with  sliafts  of  the  wind, 

While  Kipimpuu  puffed  jealous  gusts. 

Love  is  a  tree  that  blights  iu  the  cold, 

But  thrives  in  the  woods  of  Mahiki. 
5         Smitten  art  thou  with  the  blows  of  love; 

Luscious  the  water-drip  in  the  wilds; 

Wearied  and  bruised  is  the  flower  of  Koaie ; 

Stung  by  the  frost  the  herbage  of  Wai-ka-e : 

And  this — it  is  love. 
10        Wai-ka  loves  me  like  a  sweetheart. 

Dear  as  my  heart  Koolau's  yellow  eye, 

My  flower  in  the  tangled  wood,  Qule-i-a, 

A  travel- wreath  to  lay  on  love's  breast, 

A  shade  to  cover  my  journey's  long  climb. 
15         Love-touched,  distraught,  mine  a  wilderness-home ; 

But  still  do  I  cherish  the  old  spot, 

For  love — it  is  love. 

Your  love  visits  me  even  here : 

Where  has  it  bt^n  hiding  till  now? 

Pauku  2 

Kau  ka  ha-e-a,  kau  o  ka  hana  wa  ele, 
Ke  ala-ula  ka  makani, 
Kulu  a  e  ka  ua  i  kou  wahi  moe. 
Palepale  i  na  auwai  o  lalo; 
5         Eli  mawaho  o  ka  hale  o  Koolau,  e. 
E  lau  Koolau,  he  aina  ko'e-ko'e; 
Maka'u  i  ke  anu  ka  uka  o  ka  Lahuloa. 
Loa  ia  mea,  na'u  i  waiho  aku  ai. 


70  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

[Translation] 

Stanza  2 

•A  mackerel  sky,  time  for  foul  weather; 
The  wiud  raises  the  dust — 
Thy  couch  is  a-drip  with  the  rain  ; 
Open  the  door,  let's  treuch  about  the  house : 
5         Koolau,  land  of  rain,  will  shoot  green  leaves. 
I  dread  the  cold  of  the  uplands. 
An  adventure  that  of  long  ago. 

The  poem  above  given  from  beginning  to  end  is  figurative,  a  piece 
of  far-fetched,  enigmatical  symbolism  in  the  lower  plane  of  human 
nature. 

Pauku  3 

Hoe  Puna  i  ka  wa'a  po-lolo'«  a  ka  ino ; 
Ha-uke-uke  i  ka  wa  o  Koolau  : 
Eha  e !  eha  la  ! 

Eha  i  ku'i-ku'i  o  ka  Ulu-mano.^ 
5         Hala  'e  ka  walu-ihe  a  ke  A'e,^ 
Ku  iho  i  ku'i-ku'i  a  ka  Ho-li*o :  ^ 
Hana  ne'e  ke  kikala  o  ko  Hilo  Kini. 
Ho'i  lu'u-lu'u  i  ke  one  o  Hana-kahi,^ 
I  ka  po-lolo'  ua  wahine  o  ka  lua : 
10        Mai  ka  lua  no,  e ! 

[Translation] 

Stanza  3 

Puna  plies  paddle  night-long  in  the  storm ; 
Is  set  back  by  a  shift  in  the  weather, 
Feels  hurt  and  disgruntled ; 
Dismayed  at  slap  after  slap  of  the  squalls ; 
5         Is  struck  with  eight  blows  of  Typhoon  ; 

Then  smit  with  the  lash  of  the  North  wind. 
Sad,  he  turns  back  to  Hilo's  sand-beach : 
He'll  shake  the  town  with  a  scandal — 
The  night-long  storm  with  the  hag  of  the  pit, 
10        Hag  from  Gehenna  I 

"  Po-lolo.  A  secret  word,  like  a  cipher,  made  up  for  the  occasion  and  compounded  of 
two  words,  po,  night,  and  loloa,  long,  the  final  a  of  loloa  being  dropped.  This  form 
of  speech  was  called  kcpukcpa,  and  was  much  used  by  the  Ilawaiians  in  old  times. 

^  riu-mfuw.  A  violent  wind  which  blows  by  night  only  on  the  western  side  of  Hawaii. 
Kamohamcha  with  a  company  of  men  was  once  wrecked  by  this  wind  off  Nawawa  ;  a 
whole  village  was  burned  to  light  them  ashore.  (Dictionary  of  the  Hawaiian  Language, 
by  Lorrin  Andrews.)  • 

*■  M'nlu-ilie  a  kc  A'r.  The  A'e  is  a  violent  wind  that  is  described  as  blowing  from  dif- 
ferent points  of  the  compass  in  succession  ;  a  circular  storm.  Walu-ihc — eight  spears — 
was  a  name  applied  to  this  same  wind  during  a  certain  portion  of  its  circuitous  range, 
covering  at  least  eight  diCferent  points,  as  observed  by  the  Hawaiians.  It  was  well 
fitted,  therefore,  to  serve  as  a  figure  descriptive  of  eight  different  lovers,  who  follow 
each  other  in  quirk  succession  in  the  favors  of  the  same  wanton. 

''  IIo-U'o.  The  name  of  a  wind,  but  of  an  entirely  different  character  from  those  above 
mentioned. 

«  Hnna-kahi.     (Sec  note  /,  p.  GO.) 


KMEKSON]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  71  " 

This  is  not  a  line-for-line  translation;  that  the  author  found  infea- 
sible.  Line  8  of  the  English  represents  line  7  of  the  Hawaiian. 
Given  more  literally,  it  might  be,  "  He'll  shake  the  buttocks  of  Hilo's 
forty  thousand.'' 

The  metaphor  of  this  song  is  disjointed,  but  hot  with  the  primeval 
passions  of  humanity. 

Pauku  4 

Ho-ina-inaii  iiioa  ipo  i  ka  nahele; 
Haa-kokoe  ana  ka  maka  i  ka  Moani, 
I  ka  ike  i  na  pua  i  hoomahie  'luna ; 
Ua  hi-hi-hina  wale  i  ka  moe  awakea. 
5         Ka  ino'  na  poina  ia  ]SIali'o. 
Aia  ka  i  Pua- lei  o  Ha'o. 
I  Puna  uo  ka  wailioua  o  ka  makani ; 
Kaela  ka  malama  ana  a  ka  Pu'u-lena, 
I  kahi  mea  ho-aloba-loha,  e ! 
10         E  aloha,  el 

[Translation] 
Stanza  4 

Love  is  at  play  in  the  grove , 
A  jealous  swain  glares  fierce 
At  the  flowers  tying  love-knots, 
Lying  wilted  at  noon-tide. 
5         So  you've  forgotten  Mali'o, 

Turned  to  the  flower  of  Puna — 
Puna,  the  cave  of  shifty  winds. 
Long  have  I  cherished  this  blossom, 
.  A  treasure  hid  in  my  heart ! 
10         Oh,  sweetheart ! 

The  following  account  is  taken  from  the  Polynesian  Researches  of 
the  Rev.  William  Ellis,  the  well-known  English  missionary,  who 
visited  these  islands  in  the  years  1822  and  1823.  and  whose  recorded 
observations  have  been  of  the  highest  value  in  preserving  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  institutions  of  ancient  Hawaii : 

In  the  afternoon,  a  party  of  strolling  musicians  and  dancers  arrived  at 
Kairua.  About  four  o'clock  they  came,  followed  by  crowds  of  people,  and  ar- 
ranged themselves  on  a  fine  sandy  beach  in  front  of  one  of  the  governor's 
houses,  where  they  exhibited  a  native  dance,  called  hiira  araapapa. 

The  five  musicians  first  seated  themselves  in  a  line  on  the  ground,  and  spread 
a  piece  of  folded  cloth  on  the  sand  before  them.  Their  instrument  was  a 
large  calabash,  or  rather  two,  one  of  an  oval  shape  about  three  feet  high,  the 
other  perfectly  round,  very  neatly  fastened  to  it,  having  also  an  aperture 
about  three  inches  in  diameter  at  the  top.  Each  musician  held  his  instrument  be- 
fore him  with  both  hands,  and  produced  his  music  by  striking  it  on  the  ground, 
where  he  had  laid  a  piece  of  cloth,  and  beating  it  with  his  fingers,  or  the  palms 
of  his  hands.  As  soon  as  they  began  to  sound  their  calabashes,  the  dancer,  a 
young  man  about  the  middle  stature,  advanced  through  the  opening  crowd 


72  BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [  bill.  38 

His  jet-black  hair  liuug  iu  loose  aud  flowiug  ringlets  ou  liis  naked  shoulders; 
his  necklace  was  made  of  a  vast  number  of  strings  of  nicely  braided  human  hair, 
tied  together  behind,  while  a  jyaraoa  (an  ornament  made  of  a  whale's  tooth) 
hung  pendent  from  it  on  his  breast;  his  wrists  were  ornamented  with  brace- 
lets formed  of  polished  tusks  of  the  hog,  and  his  ankles  with  loose  buskins, 
thickly  set  with  dog's  teeth,  the  rattle  of  which,  during  the  dance,  kept  time 
with  the  music  of  the  calabash  drum.  A  beautiful  yellow  tapa  was  tastefully 
fastened  round  his  loins,  reaching  to  his  knees.  He  began  his  dance  in  fnmt 
of  the  nnisicians,  and  moved  forward  and  backwards,  across  the  area,  occa- 
sionally chanting  the  achievements  of  former  kings  of  Hawaii.  The  governor 
sat  at  the  end  of  the  ring,  opposite  to  the  musicians,  and  appeared  gratified 
with  the  i)erformance,  which  continued  until  the  evening.  (Vol.  iv,  100-101, 
London,  Fisher,  Son  &  Jackson,  1831.) 

Note  by  the  author. — At  the  time  of  Mr.  Ellis'  visit  to  Hawaii  the  orthography  of  the 
Hawaiian  language  was  still  in  a  formative  stage,  and  it  is  said  that  his  counsels  had 
influence  in  shaping  it.  His  use  of  r  instead  of  I  in  the  words  huīa,  alaapapa,  and  palaoa 
may,  therefore,  l)e  ascribed  to  the  fact  of  liis  previous  acquaintance  with  the  dialects  of 
southern  Polynesia,  in  which  the  sound  of  r  to  a  large  extent  substitutes  that  of  1,  and 
to  the  probability  that  for  that  reason  his  ear  was  already  attuned  to  the  prevailing 
southern  fashion,  and  his  judgment  prepossessed  in  that  direction. 


I 


BUREAU  OF  AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY 


BULLETIN  38     PLATE  VII 


IPU     HULA,    GOURD    DRUM 


X.— THE  HULA  PA-ĪPU,  OR  KUŌLO 

The  pa-ipii^  called  also  the  huolo^  was  a  hula  of  dignified  char- 
acter, in  which  all  the  performers  maintained  the  kneeling  position 
and  accompanied  their  songs  with  the  solemn  tones  of  the  'ipxi  (pi. 
VII ) ,  with  which  each  one  was  provided.  The  proper  handling  of  this 
drumlike  instrument  in  concert  with  the  cantillation  of  the  mele 
made  such  demands  upon  the  artist,  who  was  both  singer  and  instru- 
mentalist, that  only  persons  of  the  most  approved  skill  and  experi- 
ence were  chosen  to  take  part  in  the  performance  of  this  hula. 

The  manner  of  treating  the  ipu  in  this  hula  differed  somewhat 
from  that  employed  in  the  ala'a-papa,  being  subdued  and  quiet  in 
that,  whereas  in  the  pa-ipu  it  was  at  times  marked  with  great  vigor 
and  demonstrativeness,  so  that  in  moments  of  excitement  and  for  the 
expression  of  passion,  fierce  joy,  or  grief  the  ipu  might  be  lifted  on 
high  and  wildly  brandished.  It  thus  made  good  its  title  as  the  most 
important  instrument  of  the  Hawaiian  orchestra. 

In  the  pa-ipu,  as  in  the  hulas  generally,  while  the  actors  were 
sometimes  grouped  according  to  sex,  they  were  quite  as  often  dis- 
tributed indiscriminately,  the  place  for  the  leader,  the  kumu,  being 
the  center. 

The  vigor  that  marks  the  literary  style  of  the  mele  now  given 
stamps  it  as  belonging  to  the  archaic  period,  which  closed  in  the 
early  part  of  the  eighteenth  century,  that  century  which  saw  the 
white  man  make  his  advent  in  Hawaii.  The  poem  deals  apparently 
with  an  incident  in  one  of  the  migrations  such  as  took  place  during 
the  period  of  intercourse  between  the  North  and  the  South  Pacific. 
This  was  a  time  of  great  stir  and  contention,  a  time  when  there  was 
much  paddling  and  sailing  about  and  canoe-fleets,  often  manned  by 
warriors,  traversed  the  great  ocean  in  every  direction.  It  was  then 
that  Hawaii  received  many  colonists  from  the  archipelagoes  that  lie 
to  the  southward. 

Mele 

(Ko'i-honua) 

Wela  KahikI,  e! 
Wela  Kahiki,  e ! 
Wela  akn  la  Kahiki ; 
Ua  kaiilu-wela  ka  moku ; 

73 


74  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

5        Wela  ka  uln  o  Hawaii; 

Kalcala  wela  aku  la  Kahiki  ia  01oi)aiia,<^ 
Ka'u  walii  kanaka ; 
O  ka  liei  kapii  ^  o  Hana-ka-ulaui,'' 
Ka  liei  kapii  a  ko  alii, 
10         Ka  lioo-mamao-lani,*^ 
Ke  kapu  o  Keawe,^ 
A  o  Keawe 
Ke  alii  holo,  ho-i'a  i  kai,  e-e ! 


"  Olopana.  A  celebrated  kijig  of  Waipio  valley,  Hawaii,  who  had  to  wife  the  famous 
beauty,  Luukia.  Owing  to  misfortune,  he  sailed  away  to  Kahiki,  taking  with  him  his 
wife  and  his  younger  brother,  Moikeha,  who  was  his  punu-lua,  settling  in  a  land  called 
Moa-ula-tiui-akca.  Olopana  probably  ended  his  days  in  his  new-found  home,  but  Moi-keha. 
heart-sick  at  the  loss  of  Luukia's  favors,  came  back  to  Hawaii  and  became  the  progenitor 
of  a  line  of  distinguished  men,  several  of  whom  were  famous  navigators.  Exactly  what 
incident  in  the  life  of  Olopana  is  alluded  to  in  the  sixth  and  preceding  verses,  the  tradi- 
tions that  narrate  his  adventures  do  not  inform  us. 

"//fi  kapu.  An  oracle;  the  place  where  the  high  priest  kept  himself  while  consulting 
the  deities  of  the  liciau.  It  was  a  small  house  erected  on  an  elevated  platform  of  stones, 
and  there  he  kept  himself  in  seclusion  at  such  times  as  he  sought  to  be  the  recipient  of 
communications  from  the  gods. 

'^  Hana-ka-ulani.  A  name  applied  to  several  heiau  (temples).  The  first  one  so  styled, 
according  to  tradition,  was  built  at  liana,  Maui,  and  another  one  at  Knluanui,  on  Oahu, 
near  the  famous  valley  of  Ka-liu-wa'a.  These  heiau  are  said  to  have  been  built  by  the 
gods  in  the  misty  past  soon  after  landing  on  these  shores.  Was  it  to  celebrate  their 
escape  from  perils  by  sea  and  enemies  on  land,  or  was  it  in  token  of  thankfulness  to 
gods  still  higher  than  themselves? 

The  author's  informant  can  not  tell  whether  these  followed  the  fierce,  strict  cult  of 
Kane  or  the  milder  cult  of  Lono. 

^  lloo-mamao-lani.  An  epithet  meaning  remote  in  the  heavens,  applied  to  an  alii  of  very 
high  rank. 

«  Keaicc.  This  is  a  name  that  belonged  to  several  kings  and  a  large  family  of  gods — 
papa  akua — all  of  which  go(Js  are  said  to  have  come  from  Kahiki  and  to  have  dated 
their  origin  from  the  Wa  Po,  the  twilight  of  antiquity.  Among  the  demigods  that  were 
called  Keawe  may  be  mentioned:  (1)  Keawe-huU,  a  prophet  and  soothsayer.  (2)  Keaice- 
kilo-pono,  a  wise  and  righteous  one,  who  loved  justice.  (3)  Keaice-hulu-tnaemae.  It  was 
his  function  to  maintain  purity  and  cleanliness ;  he  was  a  devouring  flame  that  de- 
stroyed rubbish  and  all  foulness.  (4)  Kcaice-ula-o-ka-Umi.  This  was  the  poetical  appel- 
lation given  to  the  delicate  flush  of  early  morning.  Apropos  of  this  the  Ilawaiians  have 
the  following  quatrain,  which  they  consider  descriptive  not  only  of  morning  blush,  but 
also  of  the  coming  in  of  the  reign  of  the  gods  : 

O  Keawe-ula-i-ka-lani, 

O  Keawe-liko-i-ka-lani. 

O   Keawo-uina-pohā-i-Kahiki  ; 

Iliki  mai  ana  o  Lono. 

[Translation] 

Keawe-the-red-blush-of-dawn, 
Keawe-the-bud-in-the-sky, 
Keawe-thunder-burst-at-Kahiki : 
Till  Lono  comes  in  to  reign. 

(r>)  Kcawr-pa-makani.  It  was  his  function  to  send  winds  from  Kukulu-n-Kahiki,  as  well 
as  from  some  other  points.  (G)  Kvanc-iu-io-moa.  This  «god  inspected  the  ocean  tides  and 
currents,  such  as  Ati-iiiiki  and  Aii-kd.  (7)  Krairr-i-ka-Jiko.  He  took  charge  of  flower- 
buds  and  tender  shoots,  giving  them  a  chance  to  develop.  (8)  Kcauc-ulu-pu.  It  was  his 
function  to  promote  the  development  and  fruitage  of  plants.  (fM  Krairc-hi-piia.  lie 
caused  flowers  to  shed  their  petals.  (10)  Kcairc-opaJa.  It  was  his  thankless  task  to  cre- 
ate rubbish  and  litter  by  scattering  the  leaves  of  the  trees.  (11)  Kcairv-hulu,  a  magician, 
who  could  blow  a  feather  into  the  air  and  see  It  at  once  become  a  bird  with  power  to  fly 
away,  (12)  Kmirr-tiui-ka-ua-o-IIHo,  a  sentinel  who  stood  guard  by  night  and  by  day  to 
watch  over  all  creation.  (13)  Kcatrc-puhhu.  He  was  a  thief  and  served  as  cook  for  the 
gods.     There  were  gods  of  evil  as  well  as  of  good  in  this  set.     (14)   Keawc-oiU.     He  was 


EMERSON]  UNWKITTEN   LITERATURE   OF   HAWAII  75 

[Translation] 

Song 

(Distinct  utterance) 

Glowing  is  Kahiki,  oh ! 
Glowing  is  Kahiki ! 
Lo,  Kahiki  is  a-blaze, 
The  whole  island  a-burning. 
5         Scorched  is  thy  scion,  Hawaii, 

Kahiki  shoots  flame-tongues  at  Olopana, 
That  hero  of  yours,  and  priest 
Of  the  oracle  Hana-ka-ulani, 
The  sacred  shrine  of  the  king — 
10        He  is  of  the  upper  heavens, 
The  one  inspired  by  Keawe, 
That  tabu-famous  Keawe, 
The  king  passion-fond  of  the  sea. 

Melc 
PALE   I 

Lau  lehua  punoni  ula  ke  kai  o  Kona, 
Ke  kai  punoni  ula  i  oweo  ia ; 
Wewena  ula  ke  kai  la,  he  kokona ; 
Ula  ia  kini  i  ka  uka  o  Alaea, 
5        I  hili  ahi  ula  i  ke  kapa  a  ka  wahine, 
I  hoeu  ia  e  ka  ni'a,  e  ka  hana, 
E  ka  auwai  lino  mai  la  a  kehau. 
He  hau  hoomoe  ka  lau  o  ka  niu, 
Ke  oho  o  ka  laau,  lauoho  loloa. 
10         E  loha  ana  i  ka  la  i  o  Kailua  la,  1-u-a. 
O  ke  ku  moena  ololi  a  ehu 

0  ku'u  aina  kai  paeaea. 

Ea,  hoea  iluna  o  Mauna  Kilohana, 

Na  kaha  poohiwi  man  no  he  inoa. 

15         Ua  noa  e,  ua  pii'a  kou  wahi  kapu,  e-e ! 

1  a'e  'a  mai  e  ha'i. 

gifted  with  the  power  to  convey  and  transfer  evil,  sickness,  misfortune,  and  death.  (15) 
Kcawe-kaili.  He  was  a  robber.  (16)  Keaive-aihuc.  lie  was  a  thief.  (17)  Kcaue-makilo. 
He  was  a  beggar.  He  would  stand  round  while  others  were  preparing  food,  doing  honest 
work,  and  plead  with  his  ej-es.  In  this  way  he  often  obtained  a  dole.  (18)  Keatve-puni- 
pua'a.  He  was  a  glutton,  very  greedy  of  pork;  he  was  also  called  Keaice-ai-pua'a.  (19) 
Keaxcc-inoino.  He  was  a  sloven,  unclean  in  all  his  ways.  (20)  Keawe-ilio.  The  only  title 
to  renown  of  this  superhuman  creature  was  his  inordinate  fondness  for  the  flesh  of  the  dog. 
So  far  none  of  the  superhuman  beings  mentioned  seemed  fitted  to  the  role  of  the  Keawe  of 
the  text,  who  was  passionately  fond  of  the  sea.  The  author  had  given  up  in  despair,  when 
one  day,  on  repeating  his  inquiry  in  another  quarter,  he  was  rewarded  by  learning  of — (21) 
Keaice-i-na-kai.  He  was  a  resident  of  the  region  about  the  southeastern  point  of  Molokai, 
called  Lae-ka-Ilio — Cape  of  the  Dog.  He  was  extravagantly  fond  of  the  ocean  and  allowed 
no  weather  to  interfere  with  the  indulgence  of  his  penchant.  An  epithet  applied  to  him 
describes  his  dominating  passion  :  Keaiie  moe  i  ke  kai  o  Kohakii,  Keawe  who  sleeps  in  (or 
on)  the  sea  of  Kohakfl.  It  seems  probable  that  this  was  the  Keawe  mentioned  in  the 
twelfth  and  thirteenth  lines  of  the  mele. 

The  appellation  Keaive  seems  to  have  served  as  a  sort  of  Jack  among  the  demigods  of 
the  Hawaiian  pantheon,  on  whom  was  to  be  laid  the  burden  of  a  mongrel  host  of  virtues 
and  -vices  that  were  not  assignable  to  the  regular  orthodox  deities.  Somewhat  in  the  same 
way  do  we  use  the  name  Jack  as  a  caption  for  a  miscellaneous  lot  of  functions,  as  when 
we  speak  of  a  "  .Tack-at-all-trades." 


76  BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

tTranslation] 

Song 

CANTO   I 

Leaf  of  lehua  and  noni-tint,  the  Kona  sea, 

Iridescent  saffron  and  red, 

Changeable  watered  red,  peculiar  to  Kona ; 

Red  are  the  uplands  Alaea ; 
5        Ah,  'tis  the  flame-red  stained  robes  of  women 

Much  tossed  bj-  caress  or  desire. 

The  weed-tangled  water-way  shines  like  a  rope  of  pearls, 

Dew-pearls  that  droop  the  coco  leaf. 

The  hair  of  the  trees,  their  long  locks — 
10         Lo,  they  wilt  in  the  heat  of  Kailua  the  deep. 

A  mat  spread  out  narrow  and  gray, 

A  coigne  of  land  by  the  sea  where  the  fisher  drops  hook. 

Now  looms  the  mount  Kilohaua — 

Ah,  ye  wood-shaded  heights,  ever-lasting  your  fame ! 
15         Your  tabu  is  gone  !  your  holy  of  holies  invaded  ! 

Broke  down  by  a  stranger ! 

The  intricately  twisted  language  of  this  mele  is  allegorical,  a 
rope  Avhose  strands  are  inwrought  Avith  passion,  envy,  detraction,  and 
abuse.  In  translating  it  one  has  to  choose  between  the  poetic  verbal 
garb  and  the  esoteric  meaning  which  the  bard  made  to  lurk  beneath 
the  surface. 

Mele 

PALE  II 

Kauo  pu  ka  iwa  kala-pahe'e, 
Ka  iwa,  ka  manu  o  Kaula  i  ka  makani, 
E  ka  manu  o-u  pani-wai  o- Lehua, 
O  na  manu  kapu  a  Kuhai-moana, 
5         Mai  hele  a  luna  o  Lei-no-ai, 

0  kolohe,  o  alai  mai  ka  T^nu-lau. 
Puni'a  iluna  o  ka  Halau-a-ola; 

A  ola  aku  i  ka  luna  o  Maka-iki-olea, 

1  ka  lulu,  i  ka  la'i  o  kai  maio, 

10        Ma  ka  ha'i-wa  i  ka  mole  o  Lehua  la,  Le-hii-a ! 

()  na  lehua  o  Alaka'i  ka'u  aloha, 

O  na  lehua  iluna  o  Ko'i-alana  ; 

T'a  nonoho  hooipo  me  ke  kolie-kohe; 

Ua  anu,  maeele  i  ka  ua  noe. 
15         Ua  mai  oe;  kau  a'e  ka  nana  laua  nei,  e-e, 

Na  'lii  e  o'oni  mai  nei,  e-e!  , 

[Translation] 

Sofif/ 

CANTO   II 

The  iwa  flies  heavy  to  nest  in  the  brush. 

Its  haunt  on  windy  Ke-ula. 

TIm'  w:it<li-bir(l.  th;it  f(>n<ls  off  tht'  rain  frt)m  Le-hu-a — 


EMEKSOX]  UNWKITTEN   LITERATURE   OF   HAWAII  77 

Bird  sacred  to  Ku-hai,  the  shark-god — 
5        Shrieks,  "  Light  not  on  terrace  of  Lei-no-ai, 

Lest  Unu-lau  fiercely  assail  you." 

Storm  sweeps  the  cliffs  of  the  islet ; 

A  covert  they  seek  neath  the  hills, 

In  the  sheltered  lee  of  the  gale, 
10        The  cove  at  the  base  of  Le-hu-a. 

The  shady  groves  there  enchant  them, 

The  scarlet  plumes  of  lehua. 

Love-dalliance  now  by  the  water-reeds. 

Till  cooled  and  appeased  by  the  rain-mist. 
15         Pour  on,  thou  rain,  the  two  heads  press  the  pillow : 

Lo,  prince  and  princess  stir  in  their  sleep ! 

The  scene  of  this  mele  is  laid  on  one  of  the  little  bird-islands  that 
lie  to  the  northwest  of  Kauai.  The  iwa  bird,  flying  heavily  to  his 
nesting  place  in  the  wiry  grass  {kala-pahee)  ^  symbolizes  the  flight 
of  a  man  in  his  deep-laden  pirogue,  abducting  the  woman  of  his  love. 
The  screaming  sea-birds  that  warn  him  off  the  island,  represented 
as  watch-guards  of  the  shark-god  Kuhai-moana  (Avhose  reef  is  still 
pointed  out),  figure  the  outcries  of  the  parents  and  friends  of  the 
abducted  woman. 

After  the  first  passionate  outburst  {PimVa  ilnna  o  ha  Halau-a-ola) 
things  go  more  smoothly  (6>Z«  *  *  *).  The  flight  to  covert  from 
the  storm,  the  cove  at  the  base  of  Le-hu-a,  the  shady  groves,  the  scar- 
let pompons  of  the  lehua — the  tree  and  the  island  have  the  same 
name — all  these  things  are  to  be  interpreted  figuratively  as  emblems 
of  woman's  physical  charms  and  the  delights  of  love-dalliance. 

Mele 

TALE   III 

(Ai-ha'a) 

Ku  aku  la  Kea-aū,  lele  ka  makani  mawaho, 

Ulu-mano,  ma  ke  kaha  o  Wai-o-lono. 

Ua  moani  lehua  a'e  la  mauka ; 

Kani  lehua  iluna  o  Kupa-koili, 
5        I  ka  o  ia  i  ka  lau  o  ka  hala, 

Ke  poo  o  ka  hala  o  ke  aku'i. 

E  ku'i  e,  e  ka  uwalo. 

Loli  ka  mu'o  o  ka  hala, 

A  helelei  ka  pua,  a  pili  ke  alanui : 
10        Pu  ia  Pana-ewa,  oua-ona  i  ke  a  la, 

I  ka  nahele  makai  o  Ka-unu-loa  la. 

Nani  ke  kaunu,  ke  kaunu  a  ke  alii. 

He  puni  ina'i  poi  na  maua. 

Ua  hala  ke  Kau  a  me  ka  Hoilo, 
15         Mailaila  mai  no  ka  hana  ino. 

Ino  mai  oe,  noho  malie  aku  no  hoi  au ; 

Hopo  o'  ka  inaiua,  ka  wai,  e-e : 

Wiwo  au,  hopohopo  iho  nei,   e-e  I 


78  BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bill.  38 

[Translation] 

Song 
CANTO    III 

(In  turgid  style) 

A  storm  from  the  sea  strikes  Ke-au, 

Ulu-mano,  sweeping  across  the  barrens; 

It  suififs  the  fragrance  of  upland  lehua, 

Turns  back  at   Kupa-koili; 
5        Sawed  by  the  blows  of  the  palm  leaves, 

The  groves  of  pandanus  in  lava  shag; 

Their  fruit  he  would  string  'bout  his  neck; 

Their  fruit  he  finds  wilted  and  crushed, 

Mere  rubbish  to  litter  the  road — 
10        Ah,  the  perfume !  Pana-ewa  is  drunk  with  the  scent ; 

The  breath  of  it  spreads  through  the  groves. 

Vainly  flares  the  old  king's  passion, 

Craving  a  sauce  for  his  meat  and  mine. 

The  summer  has   flown:  winter  has  come: 
15        Ah,  that  is  the  head  of  our  troubles. 

Palsied  are  you  and  helpless  am  I ; 

You  shrink  from  a  plunge  in  the  water; 

Alas,  poor  me  I  I'm  a   coward. 

The  imagery  of  this  mele  sets  forth  the  story  of  the  fierce,  but 
fruitless,  love-search  of  a  chief,  who  is  figured  by  the  Uīu-mano^  a 
boisterous  ^yind  of  Puna,  Hawaii.  The  fragrance  of  upland  lehua 
(moani  lehua  a'e  la  mauka^  verse  3 )  tj^pifies  the  charms  of  the  woman 
he  pursues.  The  expression  l-nni  lehua  (verse  4).  literally  the  sudden 
ending  of  a  rain-squall,  signifies  the  man's  failure  to  gain  his  object. 
The  lover  seeks  to  string  the  golden  drupe  of  the  pandanus  (hala), 
that  he  may  wear  them  as  a  wreath  about  his  neck  (mcalo)  ;  he  is 
wounded  by  the  teeth  of  the  sword-leaves  (o  ia  i  ka  Ian  o  ka  Jiala, 
verse  5).  More  than  this,  he  meets  powerful,  concerted  resistance  {ke 
poo  o  ka  hala  o  he  ahiCi^  verse  0),  offered  by  the  compact  groves  of 
pandanus  that  grow  in  the  rough  lava-shag  {akuH)^  typifying,  no 
doubt,  the  resistance  made  by  the  friends  and  retainers  of  the  woman. 
After  all,  he  finds,  or  declares  that  he  finds,  the  hala  fruit  he  had 
sought  to  gather  and  to  wear  as  a  lei  about  his  neck,  to  be  spoiled, 
broken,  fit  only  to  litter  the  road  (loli  ka  miro  o  ka  hala,  verse  8;  A 
helelei  ka  pua,  a  pill  ke  alanui,  verse  9).  In  spite  of  his  repulse  and 
his  villification  of  the  Avoman,  his  passion  still  feeds  on  the  thought  of 
the  one  he  has  lost;  her  charms  intoxicate  his  imagination,  even  as 
the  perfume  of  the  hala  bloom  bewitches  the  air  of  Pana-ewa  {Pu  la 
Panae^ra,  ona-ona  i  ke  ala,  verse  10). 

It  is  difficult  to  interpret  verses  12  to  IS  in  liarniony  with  the  story 
as  abo\e  given.     They  may  be  regarded  as  a  commentary  on  the 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE   OF   HAWAII  79 

passionate  episode  in  the  life  of  the  lover,  looked  at  from  the  stand- 
point of  old  age,  at  a  time  when  passion  still  survives  but  physical 
strength  is  in  abeyance. 

As  the  sugar-boiler  can  not  extract  from  the  stalk  the  last  grain 
of  sugar,  so  the  author  finds  it  impossible  in  any  translation  to  ex- 
press the  full  intent  of  these  Hawaiian  mele. 

Mele 

PALE   IV 

Aole  au  e  hele  ka  li'u-la  o  Mana, 
la  wai  oupe-kanaka  «  o  Lima-loa ;  ^ 
A  e  hoopunipuui  ia  a'e  nei  ka  malihini; 
A  mai  puni  au :  he  wai  oupe  na. 
5        He  ala-pahi  ka  li'u-la  o  Mana; 

Ke  poloai  «^  la  i  ke  Koolau-wahine.<^ 

Ua  ulu  mai  ka  hoaloha  i  Wailua, 

A  ua  kino-lau  ^  Kawelo  f  mahamaha-i'a,^ 

»  Wai  oupc-kanaka.  Man-fooling  water  ;    the  mirage. 

^  Lima-loa.  The  long-armed,  the  god  of  the  mirage,  who  made  his  appearance  at  Manfi, 
Kauai. 

^  Poloai.  To  converse  with,  to  have  dealings  with  one. 

^  Kooīau-ieahine.  The  sea-breeze  at  Mana.  There  is  truth  as  well  as  poetry  in  the  as- 
sertion made  in  this  verse.  The  warm  moist  air,  rising  from  the  heated  sands  of  Mana, 
did  undoubtedly  draw  in  the  cool  breeze  from  the  ocean — a  fruitful  dalliance. 

«  Kino-lau.  Having  many  (400)  bodies,  or  metamorphoses,  said  of  Kawelo. 

f  Kairelo.  A  sorcerer  who  lived  in  the  region  of  Mana.  His  favorite  metamorphosis 
was  into  the  form  of  a  shark.  Even  when  in  human  form  he  retained  the  gills  of  a  fish 
and  had  the  mouth  of  a  shark  at  the  back  of  his  shoulders,  while  to  the  lower  part  of  his 
body  were  attached  the  tail  and  flukes  of  a  shark.  To  conceal  these  monstrous  append- 
ages he  wore  over  his  shoulders  a  kihci  of  kapa  and  allowed  himself  to  be  seen  only  while 
in  the  sitting  posture.  He  sometimes  took  the  form  of  a  worm,  a  moth,  a  caterpillar,  or 
a  butterfly  to  escape  the  hands  of  his  enemies.  On  land  he  generally  appeared  as  a 
man  squatting,  after  the  manner  of  a  Hawaiian  gardener  while  weeding  his  garden  plot. 

The  cultivated  lands  of  Kawelo  lay  alongside  the  much-traveled  path  to  the  beach 
where  the  people  of  the  neighborhood  resorted  to  bathe,  to  fish,  and  to  swim  in  the 
ocean.  He  made  a  practice  of  saluting  the  passers-by  and  of  asking  them,  "  Whither  are 
you  going?"  adding  the  caution,  "Look  to  it  that  you  are  not  swallowed  head  and  tail 
by  the  shark  ;  he  has  not  breakfasted  yet  "  (E  akahele  ovkou  o  pau  po'o,  pan  hVu  i  ka 
mano;  aohe  i  paina  i  kakahiaka  o  ka  mano).  As  soon  as  the  traveler  had  gone  on  his 
way  to  the  ocean,  Kawelo  hastened  to  the  sea  and  there  assumed  his  shark-form.  The 
tender  flesh  of  children  was  his  favorite  food.  The  frequent  utterance  of  the  same  cau- 
tion, joined  to  the  great  mortality  among  the  children  and  youth  who  resorted  to  the  ocean 
at  this  place,  caused  a  panic  among  the  residents.  The  parents  consulted  a  sooth- 
sayer, who  surprised  them  with  the  information  that  the  guilty  one  was  none  other  than 
the  innocent-looking  farmer,  Kawelo.  Instructed  by  the  soothsayer,  the  people  made  an 
immense  net  of  great  strength  and  having  very  fine  meshes.  This  they  spread  in  the  ocean 
at  the  bathing  place.  Kawelo.  when  caught  in  the  net,  struggled  fiendishly  to  break 
away,  but  in  vain.  According  to  directions,  they  flung  the  body  of  the  monster  into  an 
enormous  oven  which  they  had  heated  to  redness,  and  supplied  with  fresh  fuel  for  five 
times  ten  days — elima  analiulu.  At  the  end  of  that  time  there  remained  only  gray  ashes. 
The  prophet  had  commanded  them  that  when  this  had  been  accomplished  they  must  fill 
the  pit  of  the  oven  with  dry  dirt ;  thus  doing,  the  monster  would  never  come  to  life. 
They  neglected  this  precaution.  A  heavy  rain  flooded  the  country — the  superhuman  work 
of  the  sorcerer — and  from  the  moistened  ashes  sprang  into  being  a  swarm  of  lesser  sharks. 
From  them  have  come  the  many  species  of  shark  that  now  infest  our  ocean. 

The  house  which  once  was  Kawelo's  ocean  residence  is  still  pointed  out,  7  fathoms 
deep,  a  structure  regularly  built  of  rocks. 

9  Maha-maha  Va.  The  gills  or  fins  of  a  fish  such  as  marked  Kawelo. 


80  BUREAU   OF  AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

A  \m  aona  ^  mai  nei  ho  oiwi  e. 
10        He  mea  e  wale  an  e  iioho  aku  nei  la. 
Nobo. 
O  ka  nobo  kan  a  ka  mea  waiwai; 

0  kan  ka  I'a  a  baawi  la  mai. 
Oli-oli  an  ke  loaa  ia  oe. 

15        A  pela  ke  ahi  o  Ka-maile,^ 

He  alnaln  bewa  a'e  la  ka  malibini, 
Knknni  bewa  i  ka  ili  a  kan  ka  nil,  e; 
Kan  ka  nli  a  ka  mea  aloba.  e. 

[Translation] 

Song 
CANTO  IV 

1  will  not  chase  the  mirage  of  Mana, 
That  man-fooling  mist  of  god  Lima-loa, 
Which  still  deceives  the  stranger — 

And  came  nigh  fooling  me — the  tricksy  water ! 
5        The  mirage  of  Mana  is  a  frand;  it 

Wantons  with  the  witch  Koolan. 

A  friend  has  tnrned  np  at  Wailna, 

Changefnl  Kawelo,  with  gills  like  a  fish, 

Has  power  to  bring  Inck  in  any  qneer  shape. 
10        As  a  stranger  now  am  I  living, 

Aye,  living. 

Yon  flannt  like  a  person  of  wealth, 

Yonrs  the  fish,  till  it  comes  to  my  hook. 

I  am  blest  at  receiving  from  yon : 
15        Like  fire-sticks  flnng  at  Ka-maile — 

The  visitor  vainly  chases  the  brand: 

Fool !  he  bnrns  his  flesh  to  gain  the  red  mark, 

A  sign  for  the  girl  be  loves,  oho! 

Mele 

PALE  V 

(Ai-ba'a,  a  he  Ko'i  honna  paha) 

Kanhna  Kn,  ka  Lani,  i-loli  ka  mokn ; 
Hookobi  ke  kna-koko  o  ka  Lani; 
He  kna-koko,  pn-koko  i  ka  bonua ; 
He  kna-koko  kapn  no  ka  Lani ; 


"  Aona.  A  word  of  doubtful  meaning ;  according  to  one  it  means  lucky.  That  ex- 
pounder (T P )   says  it  should,  or  might  be,  haono ;  he  instances  the  phrase 

iui  paoa,  in  which  the  word  paoa  has  a  similar,  but  not  identical,  form  and  means  lucky 
bone.  ' 

''  Kn-mnUc.  A  place  on  Kauai  where  prevailed  the  custom  of  throwing  firebrands  down 
the  lofty  precipice  of  Nuololo.  This  amusement  made  a  fine  display  at  night.  As  the 
fire-sticks  fell  they  swayed  and  drifted  in  the  breeze,  making  it  difl!icult  for  one  standing 
below  to  premise  their  course  thro\igb  the  air  and  to  catch  one  of  them  before  it  struck 
the  ground  or  tho  watpr.  thjit  l)elng  one  of  the  objects  of  the  sport.  When  a  visitor  had 
arc()mi)Iisbo(l  Ibis  feat,  be  would  soiuotimes  mark  his  fiesh  with  tlie  burning  stick  that 
ho  might  show  the  brand  to  his  sweetheart  as  a  token  of  his  fidelity. 


EMEKSON]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE   OF   HAWAII  81 

5        He  ko'i  nla  ana  a  maku'i  i  ka  ala, 

Hoomau  ku-wa  mahu  ia, 

Ka  maka  o  ke  ahi  alii  e  a  nei. 

Ko  mai  ke  keiki  koko  a  ka  Lani, 

Ke  keiki  be  nimhiwa  ia  Hitu-kolo, 
10        O  ke  keiki  hiapo  anuenue,  ilol^o  o  kA  manawa, 

O  hi  ka  wai  nni  o  lea  uuuliiwa  a  Ke-opii-o-laui, 

O  ua  alii  lani  alewa-lewa  nei, 

E  ii-lele,  e  ku  nei  ma  ka  lani; 

O  ka  Lani  o  na  nm'o-lau  o  Liliha, 
15        Ka  hakina,  ka  pn'e,  ka  maka  o  Kuhi-liewa  a  Lola — 

Kalola,  nana  ke  keiki  lalia-laha ; 

Ua  kela,  he  kela  ka  pakela 

O  na  pahi'a  loa  o  ka  pu  likoliko  i  ka  lani 

O  kakoo  hulu  manu  o  o-ulu, 
20        O  ka  hulu  o-ku'i  lele  i  ka  lani, 

O  hiapo  o  ka  manu  leina  a  Pokahi, 

O  Ka-lani-opu'u  hou  o  ka  moku, 

O  na  kupuna  koikoi  o  Keoua,  o  ka  Lani  Kui-apo-iwa. 

[Translation] 
Song 

CANTO    V 

(To  be  recited  in  bombastic  style,  or,  it  may  be,  distinctly) 

Big  with  child  is  the  Princess  Ku ; 

The  whole  island  suffers  her  whimsies ; 

The  pangs  of  labor  are  on  her ; 

Labor  that  stains  the  land  with  blood, 
5        Blood-clots  of  the  heavenly  born. 

To  preserve  and  guard  the  royal  line, 

The  spark  of  king-fire  now  glowing  : 

A  child  is  he  of  heavenly  stock. 

Like  the  darling  of  Hitu-kolo, 
10        First  womb-fruit  born  to  love's  rainbow. 

A  bath  for  this  child  of  heaven's  breast. 

This  mystical  royal  offspring, 

Who  ranks  with  the  heavenly  peers. 

This  tender  bud  of  Liliha, 
15        This  atom,  this  parcel,  this  flame, 

In  the  line  Kuhi-hewa  of  Lola — 

Ka-lola,  who  mothered  a  babe  prodigious, 

For  glory  and  splendor  renowned, 

A  scion  most  comely  from  heaven, 
20        The  finest  down  of  the  new-grown  plume. 

From  bird  whose  moult  floats  to  heaven. 

Prime  of  the  soaring  birds  of  Pokahi, 

The  prince,  heaven-flower  of  the  island, 

Ancestral  sire  of  Ke-oua, 
25        And  of  King  Kui-apo-iwa. 

25352— Bull.  38—09 6 


82  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

The  heapino:  up  of  adulations,  of  which  this  mele  is  a  capital  in- 
stance, was  not  peculiar  to  Hawaiian  poetry.  The  Roman  Senate  be- 
stowed divinity  on  its  emperors  by  vote ;  the  Hawaiian  bard  laureate, 
careering  on  his  Pegasus,  thought  to  accomplish  the  same  end  by 
piling  Ossa  on  Pelion  wdth  high-flown  phrases ;  and  every  loyal  sub- 
ject added  his  contribution  to  the  cairn  that  grew  heavenward. 

In  Hawaii,  as  elsewhere,  the  times  of  royal  debasement,  of  aristo- 
cratic degeneracy,  of  doubtful  or  disrupted  succession,  have  always 
been  the  times  of  loudest  poetic  insistence  on  birth-rank  and  the  occa- 
sion for  the  most  frenzied  utterance  of  high-sounding  titles.  This  is 
a  disease  that  has  grown  with  the  decay  of  monarchy. 

Applying  this  criterion  to  the  mele  above  given,  it  may  be  judged 
to  be  by  no  means  a  product  wholly  of  the  archaic  period.  While 
certain  parts,  say  from  the  first  to  the  tenth  verses,  inclusive,  bear 
the  mark  of  antiquity,  the  other  parts  do  not  ring  clear.  It  seems  as 
if  some  poet  of  comparatively  modern  times  had  revamped  an  old 
mele  to  suit  his  own  ends.  Of  this  last  part  two  verses  were  so  glar- 
ingly an  interpolation  that  they  were  expunged  from  the  text. 

The  eifort  to  translate  into  pure  Anglo-Saxon  this  vehement  out- 
pour of  high-colored  phrases  has  made  heav}^  demands  on  the  vocabu- 
lary and  has  strained  the  idioms  of  our  speech  well-nigh  to  the  point 
of  protest. 

In  lines  1,  2,  4,  8,  14,  and  23  the  word  Lani  means  a  prince  or  prin- 
cess, a  high  chief  or  king,  a  heavenly  one.  In  lines  12,  13,  18,  and  20 
the  same  word  lani  means  the  heavens,  a  concept  in  the  Hawaiian 
mind  that  had  some  far-away  approximation  to  the  Olympus  of 
classic  Greece. 

Mele 

Ooe  no  paha  ia,  e  ka  lau  o  ke  aloha, 

Oia  no  paha  ia  ke  kau  mai  nei  ka  hali'a. 

Ke  hali'a-li'a  mai  nei  ka  maka, 

Manao  hiki  mai  no  paha  an  anei. 
5         Hiki  mai  no  la  ia,  na  wai  e  uwe  aku? 

Ua  pan  kau  la,  kau  ike  iaia ; 

Ka  manawa  oi'  e  ai  ka  manao  iloko. 

Ua  luu  iho  nei  au  i  ke  kai  nui ; 

Nui  ka  ukiuki,  paio  o  ka  naau. 
10        Aohe  kanaka  eha  ole  i  ke  aloha. 

A  wahine  e  oe,  kanaka  e  au ; 

He  man  alualu  ka  ha'i  e  lawe. 

Ike  aku  i  ke  kula  i'a  o  Ka"-wai-nui. 

Nui  ka  opala  ai  o  Moku-lana. 
15        Lana  ka  limu  pae  hewa  o  Makau-wahine. 

O  ka  wahine  no  oe,  o  ke  kane  no  ia. 

Hiki  mai  no  la  ia,  na  wai  e  uwe  aku? 

Hoi  mai  no  la  ia,  a  ia  wai  e  uwe  aku? 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE   OF   HAWAII  83 

[Translation] 
Song 

Methinks  it  is  you,  leaf  plnclved  from  Love's  tree, 

You  mayhap,  that  stirs  my  aft'ectiou. 

There's  a  tremulous  glance  of  the  eye, 

The  thought  she  might  chance  yet  to  come: 
5        But  who  then  would  greet  her  with  song? 

Your  day  has  flown,  your  vision  of  her — 

A  time  this  for  gnawing  the  heart. 

I've  plunged  just  now  in  deep  waters : 

Oh  the  strife  and  vexation  of  soul ! 
10        No  mortal  goes  scathless  of  love. 

A  wife  thou  estranged,  I  a  husband  estranged, 

Mere  husks  to  be  cast  to  the  swine,** 

Look,  the  swarming  of  fish  at  the  weir ! 

Their  feeding  grounds  on  the  reef 
15        Are  waving  with  mosses  abundant. 

•     Thou  art  the  woman,  that  one  your  man — 

At  her  coming  who'll  greet  her  with  song? 

Her  returning,  who  shall  console? 

This  song  almost  explains  itself.     It  is  the  soliloquy  of  a  lover 

estranged  from  his  mistress.     Imagination  is  alive  in  eye  and  ear  to 

everything  that  may  bring  tidings  of  her,  even  of  her  unhoped-for 

return.     Sometimes  he  speaks  as  if  addressing  the  woman  who  has 

gone  from  him,  or  he  addresses  himself,  or  he  personifies  some  one 

who  speaks  to  him,  as  in  the  sixth  line :   "  Your  day  has  flown, 
«     *     *      5' 

The  memory  of  past  vexation  and  anguish  extorts  the  philosophic 
remark,  "  No  mortal  goes  scathless  of  love.''  He  gives  over  the 
past,  seeks  consolation  in  a  new  attachment — he  dives,  lu'^u,  into  the 
great  ocean,  "  deep  waters,"  of  love,  at  least  in  search  of  love.  The 
old  self  (selves),  the  old  love,  he  declares  to  be  only  alualu,  empty 
husks. 

He — it  is  evidently  a  man — sets  forth  the  wealth  of  comfort,  opu- 
lence, that  surrounds  him  in  his  new-found  peace.  The  scene,  being 
laid  in  the  land  Kailua,  Oahu — the  place  to  which  the  enchanted 
tree  Maka-lei  ^  was  carried  long  ago,  from  which  time  its  waters 
abounded  in  fish — fish  are  naturally  the  symbol  of  the  opulence  that 
now  bless  his  life.  But,  in  spite  of  the  new-found  peace  and  pros- 
perity that  attend  him,  there  is  a  lonely  corner  in  his  heart;  the 
old  question  echoes  in  its  vacuum,  "  Who'll  greet  her  with  song  ? 
*     *     *     who  shall  console?  " 

"  In  the  original,  He  man  alualu  ka  ha'i  e  laice,  literally  "  Some  skins  for  another  to 
take." 

"Maka-lei.      (See  note  h,  p.   17.) 


84  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

Mele 

0  Ewa,  aina  kai  iila  i  ka  lepo, 

1  Ilia  i  ka  makani  aim  Moa'e, 
Kn  maiiu  iila  i  ka  Ian  ka  ai, 

I  palalie'a  ula  i  ke  kai  o  Kuhi-ā,. 

5        Mai  kuhi  mai  oukoii  e,  owaii  ke  kalohe; 
Aolie  na'n,  na  lakon  no  a  pan. 
Aohe  liewa  kekahi  keiki  a  ke  kohe. 
Ei'  a'e;  oia  do  paba  ia. 
I  lono  oiikoii  ia  wai,  e,  iia  moe? 

10        Oia  kiui  poai  o  lal^oii  la  palia? 

Ike  akii  ia  I^a  mau'ii  liina-hiua — 
He  biiia  ko'ii,  be  aka  mai  ko  ia  la. 
I  aka  mai  oe  i  koii  la  manawa  le'a ; 
A  manawa  ino,  nui  mai  ka  uukn, 

15         Hoomokapn,  boopale  mai  ka  maka, 
Hoolabui   wale  mai   i   a'n  nei. 
E,  oia  paba ;  ae,  oia  no  paba  ia. 

[Translation] 
Song 

Ewa's  lagoon  is  red  witb  dirt — 
Dust  blown  by  tbo  eool  Moa'e, 
A  plnmage  red  on  tbe  taro  leaf, 
An  ocjierous  tint  in  tbe  bay. 

5         Say  not  in  yonr  beart  tliat  I  am  tbe  culprit. 
Not  I,  but  tbey,  are  at  fault. 
No  ebild  of  tbe  womb  is  to  blame. 
Tbere  goes,  likely  be  is  the  one. 
Who  was  it  blabbed  of  tbe  bed  defiled? 

10        It  must  have  been  one  of  that  band. 

But  look  at  tbe  rank  grass  beat  down — 
For  my  part,  I  tripped,  tbe  other  one  smiled. 
You  smiled  in  your  hour  of  pleasure: 
But  now,  when  crossed,  how  you  scold! 

15        Avoiding  the  house,  averting  tbe  ej'es — 
You  make  of  me  a  mere  stranger. 
Yes  it's  probably  so,  he's  tbe  one. 

A  poom  this  full  of  local  color.  The  plot  of  the  story,  as  it  may  be 
interpreted,  runs  somewhat  as  follows:  AVhile  the  man  of  the  hou^se, 
presumably,  is  away,  it  would  seem — fishing,  perhaps,  in  the  waterc 
of  Ewa's  "  shamrock  lagoon  " — the  mistress  s])orts  with  a  lover.  The 
culprit  impudently  defends  himself  with  chaff  and  dust-throwing. 
The  hoodlums,  one  of  whom  is  himself  the  sinner,  have  been  blab- 
bing, says  he. 


EMEKSox]  UNWKITTEN   LITERATURE   OF   HAWAII  85 

His  accuser  points  to  the  beaten  down  hina-hina  grass  as  evidence 
against  him.  At  this  the  brazen-faced  culprit  parries  the  stroke  with 
a  humorous  euphemistic  description,  in  which  he  plays  on  the  word 
hina^  to  fall.  Such  verbal  tilting  in  ancient  Hawaii  was  practically  a 
defense  against  a  charge  of  moral  obliquity  as  decisive  and  legiti- 
mate as  Avas  an  appeal  to  arms  in  the  times  of  chivalry.  He  euphe- 
mistically speaks  of  the  beaten  herbage  as  the  result  of  his  having 
tripped  and  fallen,  at  which,  says  he,  the  woman  smiled,  that  is  she 
fell  in  wdth  his  proposals.  He  gives  himself  away;  but  that  doesn't 
matter. 

It  requires  some  study  to  make  out  who  is  the  speaker  in  the  tit- 
for-tat  of  the  dialogue. 

Mele 

(Ai-ha'a) 

He  lua  i  ka  Hikina, 
Ua  ena  e  Pele; 
Ke  baoloolo  e  la   ke  ao, 
Ke  lele  la  i-luna,  i-lalo; 
5        Kawewe  ka  0-6  i-lalo  i  akea; 
A  nīnaii  o  Wakea, 
Owai  uei  akua  e  ell  nei? 
Owaii  no,  o  Pele, 
Nana  i  eli  akii  ka  lua  i  Xiihaii  a  a. 

10        He  lua  i  Niihau,  ua  ena  e  Pele. 

Ke  haoloolo  e  la  ke  ao, 

Ke  lele  la  i-luna,  i-lalo; 

Kawewe  ka  0-6  i-lalo  i  akea; 

A  ninau  o  Wakea, 
15        Owai  nei  akua  e  eli  nei? 

Owau  no,  o  Pele, 

Nana  i  eli  aku  ka  lua  i  Kauai  a  a. 

He  lua  i  Kauai  ua  ena  e  Pele. 

Ke  haoloolo  e  la  ke  ao, 
20        Ke  lele  la  i-luna,  i-lalo; 

Kawewe  ka  0-6  i-lalo  i  akea ; 

Ninau  o  Wakea, 

Owai  nei  akua  e  eli  nei? 

Owau  no,  o  Pele, 
25        Nana  i  eli  ka  lua  i  Oahu  a  a. 

He  lua  i  Oahu,  ua  ena  e  Pele. 
Ke   haoloolo  e  la  ke  ao, 
Ke  lele  la  i-luna,  i-lalo; 
Kawewe  ka  0-6  i-lalo  i  akea ; 
30        A  ninau  o  Wakea, 

Owai  nei  akua  e  eli  nei? 

Qwau  no,  o  Pele, 

Nana  i  eli  ka  lua  i  Molokai  a  a. 


86  BUREAU   OF  AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

lie  Ilia  i  Molokai,  iia  ena  e  Pele. 
35         Ke  haoloolo  o  la   ke  ao, 

Ke  lele  la   i-liuia,  i-lalo; 

Knwewo  ka  o-o  i-lalo,  i  akea. 

Ninaii  o  Wakea, 

Owai  uei  akna  e  eli  uei? 
40        Owaii  no,  o  Pele, 

Naua  i  eli  aku  ka  liia  i  Lanai  a  a. 

He  Ina  1  Lanai,  iia  ena  e  Pele. 
Ke  haoloolo  e  la  ke  ao, 
Ke  lele  la   i-lnna,   i-lalo; 
45         Kawewe  ka  o-6  i-lalo  i  akea. 
Ninan  o  Wakea, 
Owai  nei  akua  e  eli  nei? 
Owau  no,  o  Pele, 
Nana  i  eli  aku  ka  Ina  i  Maui  a  a. 

50        He  lua  i  Maui,  ua  ena  e  Pele. 

Ke  haoloolo  e  la  ke  ao. 

Ke  lele  la  i-luna,   i-lalo; 

Kawewe  ka  o-6  i-lalo,  i  akea. 

Ninau  o  Wakea, 
55        Owai,  nei  akua  e  eli  nei? 

Owau  no,  o  Pele, 

Nana  i  eli  aku  ka  lua  i  Hu'ehu'e  a  a. 

He  lua  i  Hu'ehu'e,  ua  ena  e  Pele. 
Ke  haoloolo  e  la  ke  ao, 
60        Ke  leTfe  la  i-luna,  i-lalo ; 

Kawewe  ka  o-6  i-lalo,  i  akea. 
Eli-eli,  kau  mai ! 

[Translation] 

Song 

(In  turgid  style) 

A  pit  lies  (far)  to  the  East, 
Pit  het  by  the  Fire-queen  Pele. 
Heaven's  dawn  is  lifted  askew. 
One  edge  tilts  up,  one  down,  in  the  sky : 
5         The  thud  of  the  pick  is  heard  in  the  ground. 
The  question  is  asked  by  Wakea, 
What  god  's  this  a-digging? 
It  is  I,  it  is  Pele, 

Who  dug  Niihau  deep  down  till,  it  burned, 
10        Dug  fire-pit  red-heated  by  Pele. 

Night's  curtains  are  drawn  to  one  side. 
One  lifts,  one  hangs  in  the  tide. 
Crunch  of  spade  resounds  in  the  earth. 
Wakea   'gain  urges  the  query. 
1.')        What  god  plies  the  spade  in  the  ground? 
Quoth  Pele,  'tis  I: 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN  LITERATUEE  OP  HAWAII  87 

I  mined  to  the  fire  neatli  Kauai, 
On  Kauai  I  dug  deep  a  pit, 
A  fire-well  flame-fed  by  Pele. 

20        The  heavens  are  lifted  aslant, 

One  border  moves  up  and  one  down : 

There's  a  stroke  of  o-o  'neath  the  ground. 

Wakea,  in  earnest,  would  know, 

What  demon's  a-grubbing  below? 
25        I  am  the  worker,  says  Pele: 

Oahu  I  pierced  to  the  quick, 

A  crater  white-heated  by  Pele. 

Now  morn  lights  one  edge  of  the  sky ; 

The  light  streams  up,  the  shadows  fall  down; 
30        There's  a  clatter  of  tools  deep  down. 

Wakea,  in  passion,  demands. 

What  god  this  who  digs  'neath  the  ground? 

It  is  dame  Pele  who  answers; 

Hers  the  toil  to  dig  down  to  fire, 
35        To  dig  Molokai  and  reach  fire. 

Now  morning  peeps  from  the  sky 
With  one  eye  open,  one  shut. 
Hark,  ring  of  the  drill  'neath  the  plain ! 
Wakea  asks  you  to  explain, 
40        What  imp  is  a-drilling  below? 
It  is  I,  mutters  Pele: 
I  drilled  till  flame  shot  forth  on  Lanai, 
A  pit  candescent  by  Pele. 

The  morning  looks  forth  aslant; 
45        Heaven's  curtains  roll  up  and  roll  down ; 

There's  a  ring  of  o-6  'neath  the  sod. 

W^ho,  asks  W^akea,  the  god. 

Who  is  this  devil  a-digging? 

'Tis  I,  'tis  Pele,  I  who 
50        Dug  on  Maui  the  pit  to  the  fire: 

Ah,  the  crater  of  Maui, 

Red-glowing  with  Pele's  own  fire! 

Heaven's  painted  one  side  by  the  dawn, 

Her  curtains  half  open,  half  drawn ; 
55        A  rumbling  is  heard  far  below. 

Wakea  insists  he  will  know 

The  name  of  the  god  that  tremors  the  land. 

'Tis  I,  grumbles  Pele, 

I  have  scooped  out  the  pit  Hu'e-hu'e, 
60        A  pit  that  reaches  to  fire, 

A  fire  fresh  kindled  by  Pele. 

Now  day  climbs  up  to  the  East; 
Morn  folds  the  curtains  of  night ; 
The  spade  of  sapper  resounds  'neath  the  plain : 
65        The  goddess  is  at  it  again ! 


88  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bill.  38 

This  mele  comes  to  us  stamped  with  the  hall-mark  of  antiquity. 
It  is  a  poem  of  mythology,  but  with  what  story  it  connects  itself,  the 
author  knows  not. 

The  translation  here  given  makes  no  profession  of  absolute,  verbal 
literalness.  One  can  not  transfer  a  metaphor  bodily,  head  and  horns, 
from  one  speech  to  another.  The  European  had  to  invent  a  new 
name  for  the  boomerang  or  accept  the  name  by  Avhich  the  Australian 
called  it.  The  Frenchman,  struggling  with  the  English  language, 
told  a  lady  he  Avas  gangrened;  he  meant  he  was  mortified.  The  cry 
for  literalism  is  the  cry  for  an  impossibility ;  to  put  the  chicken  back 
into  its  shell,  to  return  to  the  bows  and  arrows  of  the  stone  age. 

To  make  the  application  to  the  mele  in  question :  the  word  ha-olo- 
olo^  for  example,  which  is  translated  in  several  different  ways  in  the 
poem,  is  of  such  generic  and  comprehensive  meaning  that  one  word 
fails  to  express  its  meaning.  It  is,  by  the  way,  not  a  word  to  be 
found  in  any  dictionary.  The  author  had  to  grope  his  way  to  its 
meaning  b}-  following  the  trail  of  some  Hawaiian  pathfinder  who, 
after  beating  about  the  bush,  finally  had  to  acknowledge  that  the 
path  had  become  so  much  overgrown  since  he  last  went  that  way 
that  he  could  not  find  it. 

The  Arabs  have  a  hundred  or  more  words  meaning  sword — dif- 
ferent kinds  of  swords.  To  them  our  word  sword  is  very  unspecific. 
Talk  to  an  Arab  of  a  sword — you  may  exhaust  the  list  of  special 
forms  that  our  poor  vocabulary  compasses,  straight  sword,  broad- 
sword, saber,  scimitar,-  yataghan,  rapier,  and  what  not,  and  yet  not 
hit  the  mark  of  his  definition. 

Mele 

Hakn'i  ka  nahi  o  ka  Ina,  pa  i  ka  lani : 

Ha'aha'a  Hawaii,  moku  o  Keawe  i  lianaii  ia. 

Kiekie  ke  one  o  Malāma  ia  Lohian, 

I  a'e  'a  mai  e  ke  alii  o  Kahiki, 
5        Nana  i  bele  kai  uli,  kai  ele, 

Kai  popolo-hu'a  a  Kane, 

Ka  wa  i  po'i  ai  ke  Kai-a-ka-bina-lii, 

Kai  nu'u,  kai  lewa. 

Hoopua  o  Kane  i  ka  la'i : 
10        Pa  uli-hiwa  mai  la  ka  nka  o  ke  abi  a  Lalva, 

Oia  wabine  kibene  lehiia  o  Hopoe, 

Pu'e  aku  o  na  bala, 

Ka  bala  o  Panaewa. 

O  Panaewa  nni,  uiokii  leliua  ;  ' 

15         Obia  kupn  ba-o'e-o'e; 

Lebua  ula,  i  wili  ia  e  ke  abi. 

A  po,  e! 

Po  Puna,  po  Hilo ! 
Po  i  ka  uabi  o  ku'u  aina. 
20         Ola   ia  kini ! 

Ke  a  mai  la  ke  abi ! 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE   OF   HAWAII  89 

[Translation] 
Song 

A  burst  of  smolve  from  the  pit  lifts  to  the  skies; 
Hawaii  's  beneath,  birth-land  of  Keawe; 
Malama's  beach  looms  before  Lohiau, 
Where  landed  the  chief  from  Kahiki, 
5        From  a  voyage  on  the  blue  sea,  the  dark  sen, 
The  foam-mottled  sea  of  Kane, 

What  time  curled  waves  of  the  king-whelming  flood. 
The  sea  up-swells,  invading  the  land — 

Lo  Kane,  outstretched  at  his  ease ! 
10         Smoke  and  flame  o'ershadow  the  uplands. 

Conflagration  by  Laka,  the  woman 

Hopoe  wreathed  with  flowers  of  lehua, 

Stringing  the  pandanus  fruit. 

Screw-palms  that  clash  in  Pan'-ewa — 
15        Pan'-ewa,  whose  groves  of  lehua 

Are  nourished  by  lava  shag, 

Lehua  that  bourgeons  with  flame. 

Night,  it  is  night 
O'er  Puna  and  Hilo! 
20        Night  from  the  smoke  of  my  land ! 
For  the  people  salvation ! 
But  the  land  is  on  fire ! 

The  Hawaiian  who  furnished  the  meles  which,  in  their  translated 
forms,  are  designated  as  canto  I,  canto  II,  and  so  on,  spoke  of  them 
as  pale;  and,  following  his  nomenclature,  the  term  has  been  retained, 
though. more  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  meles  and  with  the  term 
has  shown  that  the  nearest  English  synonym  to  correspond  with  pale 
would  be  the  word  division.  Still,  perhaps  with  a  mistaken  tender- 
ness for  the  word,  the  author  has  retained  the  caption  Canto,  as  a 
sort  of  nodding  recognition  of  the  old  Hawaiian's  term — division  of 
a  poem.  *Xo  idea  is  entertained  that  the  five  pale  above  given  were 
composed  by  the  same  bard,  or  that  they  represent  productions  from 
the  same  individual  standpoint.  They  do,  however,  breathe  a  spirit 
much  in  common;  so  that  when  the  old  Hawaiian  insisted  that  they 
are  so  far  related  to  one  another  as  to  form  a  natural  series  for  reci- 
tation in  the  hula,  being  species  of  the  same  genus,  as  it  were,  he 
was  not  far  from  the  truth.  The  man's  idea  seemed  to  be  that  they 
were  so  closely  related  that,  like  beads  of  harmonious  colors  ^nd 
shapes,  they  might  be  strung  on  the  same  thread  without  producing  a 
dissonance. 

Of  these  five  poems,  or  pale  (pah-lay),  numbers  I,  II,  and  IV 
were  uttered  in  a  natural  tone  of  voice,  termed  Jiaicele,  otherwise 
termed  ko^i-honua.  The  purpose  of  this  style  of  recitation  was  to 
adapt  the  tone  to  the  necessities  of  the  aged  when  their  ears  no  longer 


90  BUREAU   OF  AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

heard  distinctly.  It  would  require  an  audiplione  to  illustrate  per- 
fectly the  difference  between  this  method  of  pronunciation  and  the 
ai-ha'a^  which  was  employed  in  the  recitation  of  cantos  III  and  V. 
The  ai-haa  was  given  in  a  strained  and  guttural  tone. 

The  poetical  reciter  and  cantillator,  whether  in  the  halau  or  in  the 
king's  court,  was  wont  to  heighten  the  oratorical  effect  of  his  recita- 
tion by  certain  crude  devices,  the  most  marked  of  which  was  that  of 
choking  the  voice  down,  as  it  were,  into  the  throat,  and  there  letting 
it  strain  and  growl  like  a  hungry  lion.  This  was  the  ai-ha'a,  whose 
organic  function  was  the  expression  of  the  underground  passions  of 
the  soul. 


XI.— THE  HULA  KI'I 

I  was  not  a  little  surprised  when  I  learned  that  the  ancient  hula 
repertory  of  the  Hawaiians  included  a  performance  with  marionettes, 
A;^'^,  dressed  up  to  represent  human  beings.  But  before  accepting 
the  hula  kri  as  a  product  indigenous  to  Hawaii,  I  asked  myself, 
Might  not  this  be  a  performance  in  imitation  of  the  Punch-and-Judy 
show  familiar  to  Europe  and  America^? 

After  careful  study  of  the  question  no  evidence  was  found,  other 
than  what  might  be  inferred  from  general  resemblance,  for  the  theory 
of  adoption  from  a  European  or  American  origin.  On  the  contrary, 
the  words  used  as  an  accompaniment  to  the  play  agree  with  report 
and  tradition,  and  bear  convincing  evidence  in  form  and  matter  to  a 
Hawaiian  antiquity.  That  is  not  to  say,  however,  that  in  the  use  of 
marionettes  the  Hawaiians  did  not  hark  back  to  their  ancestral  homes 
in  the  southern  sea  or  to  a  remoter  past  in  Asia. 

The  six  marionettes,  kiH  (pis.  viii  and  ix),  in  the  writer's  possession 
were  obtained  from  a  distinguished  kumu-hula,  who  received  them  by 
inheritance,  as  it  were,  from  his  brother.  ''  He  gave  them  to  me,"  said 
he,  "  with  these  words, '  Take  care  of  these  things,  and  when  the  time 
comes,  after  my  death,  that  the  king  wants  you  to  perform  before 
him,  be  ready  to  fulfill  his  desire.'  " 

It  was  in  the  reign  of  Kamehameha  III  that  they  came  into  the 
hands  of  the  elder  brother,  who  was  then  and  continued  to  be  the 
royal  hula-master  until  his  death.  These  ki'i  have  therefore  figured 
in  performances  that  have  been  graced  by  the  presence  of  King 
Kauikeaouli  (Kamehameha  III)  and  his  queen,  Kalama,  and  by  his 
successors  since  then  down  to  the  times  of  Kalakaua.  At  the  so- 
called  "jubilee,"  the  anniversary  of  Kalakaua's  fiftieth  birthday, 
these  marionettes  were  very  much  in  evidence. 

The  make-up  and  style  of  these  ki'i  are  so  similar  that  a  descrip- 
tion of  one  will  serve  for  all  six.  This  marionette  represents  the 
figure  of  a  man,  and  was  named  Maka-hu  (pi.  ix).  The  head  is 
carved  out  of  some  soft  wood — either  kukui  or  wiliwili — which  is 
covered,  as  to  the  hairy  scalp,  with  a  dark  woven  fabric  much  like 
broadcloth.  It  is  encircled  at  the  level  of  the  forehead  with  a  broad 
band  of  gilt  braid,  as  if  to  ape  the  style  of  a  soldier.  The  median 
line  from  the  forehead  over  the  vertex  to  the  back-head  is  crested 
with  the  mahiole  ridge.    This,  taken  in  connection  with  the  encircling 

91 


92  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

gilt  band,  gives  to  the  head  a  Avarlike  appearance,  somewhat  as  if  it 
were  armed  with  the  classical  helmet,  the  Hawaiian  name  for  which 
is  mahi-ole.  The  crest  of  the  ridge  and  its  points  of  junction  with 
the  forehead  and  back-head  are  decorated  with  fillets  of  wool  dyed 
of  a  reddish  color,  in  apparent  imitation  of  the  niamo  or  0-6,  the 
birds  whose  feathers  were  used  in  decorating  helmets,  cloaks,  and 
other  regalia.  The  features  are  carved  with  some  attempt  at  fidelity. 
The  eyes  are  set  with  mother-of-pearl. 

The  figure  is  of  about  one-third  life  size,  and  was  originally 
draped,  the  author  was  told,  in  a  loose  robe,  holoku,  of  tapa  cloth 
of  the  sort  known  as  mahuna,  which  is  quite  thin.  This  piece  of 
tapa  is  perforated  at  short  intervals  with  small  holes,  kikoH.  It  is 
also  stained  with  the  juice  from  the  bark  of  the  root  of  the  kukui 
tree,  which  imparts  a  color  like  that  of  copper,  and  makes  the  Ha- 
waiians  class  it  as  paHkukui.  A  portion  of  its  former,  its  original, 
apparel  has  been  secured. 

The  image  is  now  robed  in  a  holoku  of  yellow  cotton,  beneath 
which  is  an  underskirt  of  striped  silk  in  green  and  white.  The  arms 
are  loosely  jointed  to  the  body. 

The  performer  in  the  hula,  who  stood  behind  a  screen,  by  insinu- 
ating his  hands  under  the  clothing  of  the  marionette,  could  impart 
to  it  such  movements  as  were  called  for  by  the  action  of  the  play, 
while  at  the  same  time  he  repeated  the  words  of  his  part,  words  sup- 
posed to  be  uttered  by  the  marionette. 

The  hula  ki'i  was,  perhaps,  the  nearest  approximation  made  by 
the  Hawaiians  to  a  genuine  dramatic  performance.  Its  usual  instru- 
ment of  musical  accompaniment  was  the  ipu,  previously  described. 
This  drumlike  object  was  handled  by  that  division  of  the  perform- 
ers called  the  hoopa'a,  who  sat  in  full  view  of  the  audience  manipu- 
lating the  ipu  in  a  quiet,  sentimental  manner,  similar  to  that  em- 
ployed in  the  hula  kuolo. 

As  a  sample  of  the  stories  illustrated  in  a  performance  of  the 
hula  ki'i  the  following  may  be  adduced,  the  dramatis  personse  of 
Avhich  are*  four: 

1.  Maka-ku^  a  famous  warrior,  a  rude,  strong-handed  braggart,  as 
boastful   as  Ajax. 

2.  Puapua-kea^  a  small  man,  but  brave  and  active. 

3.  Maile-laii-ln  (Small-leafed-maile),  a  young  woman,  who  be- 
comes the  wife  of  Maka-ku. 

4.  Maile-Pakaha^  the  younger  sister  of  Maile-lau-lii,  who  becomes 
the  wife  of  Puapua-kea. 

Maka-ku,  a  rude  and  boastful  son  of  Mars,  at  heart  a  bully,  if  not 
a  coward,  is  represented  as  ever  aching  for  a  fight,  in  which  his 
domineering  si)irit  and  rough-and-tumble  ways  for  a  time  gave  him 
the  advantage  over  abler,  but  more  modest,  adversarfes. 


BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY 


BULLETIN   38     PLATE    IX 


MARIONETTE,    MAKA-KU 


EMERSox]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE    OF    HAWAJI  93 

Puapuakea.  a  man  of  genuine  courage,  hearing  of  the  boastful 
achievements  of  Maka-ku.  seeks  him  out  and  challenges  him. 

At  the  first  contest  they  fought  with  javelins,  ihe^  each  one  tak- 
ing his  turn  according  to  lot  in  casting  his  javelins  to  the  full  tale 
of  the  prescribed  number;  after  which  the  other  contestant  did  the 
same.     Neither  was  victorious. 

Xext  they  fought  with  slings,  each  one  having  the  right  to  sling 
fortv  stones  at  the  other.  In  this  conflict  also  neither  one  of  them 
got  the  better  of  the  other.  The  next  trial  was  with  stone-throwing. 
The  result  was  still  the  same. 

Xow  it  was  for  them  to  try  the  classical  Hawaiian  game  of  lua. 
This  was  a  strenuous  form  of  contest  that  has  many  features  in  com- 
mon with  the  panathlion  of  the  ancient  Hellenes,  some  points  in 
common  with  boxing,  and  still  more,  perhaps,  partakes  of  the  char- 
acter of  the  grand  art  of  combat,  wrestling.  Since  becoming  ac- 
quainted with  the  fine  Japanese  art  of  jiu-jitsu,  the  author  recog- 
nizes certain  methods  that  were  shared  by  them  both.  But  to  all  of 
these  it  added  the  wild  privileges  of  choking,  bone-breaking,  dis- 
locating, eye-gouging,  and  the  infliction  of  tortures  and  grips  unmen- 
tionable and  disreputable.  At  first  the  conflict  was  in  suspense,  vic- 
tory favoring  neither  party;  but  as  the  contest  went  on  Puapuakea 
showed  a  slight  superiority,  and  at  the  finish  he  had  bettered  Maka-ku 
by  three  points,  or  ai,^  as  the  Hawaiians  uniquely  term  it. 

The  sisters,  Maile-lau-lii  and  Maile-pakaha,  who  had  been  inter- 
ested spectators  of  the  contest,  conceived  a  passionate  liking  for  the 
two  warriors  and  laid  their  plans  in  concert  to  capture  them  for 
themselves.  Fortunately  their  preferences  were  not  in  conflict. 
Maile-lau-lii  set  her  affections  on  Maka-kii,  while  the  younger  sister 
devoted  herself  to  Pua-pua-kea. 

The  two  men  had  previously  allowed  their  fancies  to  range  abroad 
at  pleasure;  but  from  this  time  they  centered  their  hearts  on  these 
two  Mailes  and  settled  down  to  regular  married  life. 

Interest  in  the  actual  performance  of  the  hula  ki'i  was  stimulated 
by  a  resort  to  byplay  and  buffoonery.  One  of  the  marionettes,  for 
instance,  points  to  some  one  in  the  audience:  whereupon  one  of  the 
hoopaa  asks,  **  ^Miat  do  you  want  ?  ''  The  marionette  persists  in  its 
pointing.  At  length  the  interlocutor,  as  if  divining  the  marionette's 
wish,  says :  "Ah,  you  want  So-and-so."  At  this  the  marionette  nods 
assent,  and  the  hoopaa  asks  again,  "  Do  you  wish  him  to  come  to 
you?"  The  marionette  expresses  its  delight  and  approval  by  nods 
and  gestures,  to  the  immense  satisfaction  of  the  audience,  who  join 
in  derisive  laughter  at  the  expense  of  the  person  held  up  to  ridicule. 

Besides  the  marionettes  already  named  among  the  characters  found 
in  the  different  hula-plays  of  the  hula  ki'i,  the  author  has  heard 

"At,   literally  a  food,   a  course. 


BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY 


BULLETIN  38     PLATE   IX 


MARIONETTE,     MAKA-KŪ 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN    LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  93 

Puapuakea,  a  man  of  genuine  courage,  hearing  of  the  boastful 
achievements  of  Maka-ku.  seeks  him  out  and  challenges  him. 

At  the  first  contest  they  fought  with  javelins,  ihe^  each  one  tak- 
ing his  turn  according  to  lot  in  casting  his  javelins  to  the  full  tale 
of  the  prescribed  number;  after  which  the  other  contestant  did  the 
same.     Neither  was  victorious. 

Next  they  fought  with  slings,  each  one  having  the  right  to  sling 
forty  stones  at  the  other.  In  this  conflict  also  neither  one  of  them 
got  the  better  of  the  other.  The  next  trial  was  with  stone-throwing. 
The  result  was  still  the  same. 

Xow  it  was  for  them  to  try  the  classical  Hawaiian  game  of  lua. 
This  was  a  strenuous  form  of  contest  that  has  many  features  in  com- 
mon with  the  panathlion  of  the  ancient  Hellenes,  some  points  in 
common  with  boxing,  and  still  more,  j^erhaps,  partakes  of  the  char- 
acter of  the  grand  art  of  combat,  wrestling.  Since  becoming  ac- 
quainted with  the  fine  Japanese  art  of  jiu-jitsu,  the  author  recog- 
nizes certain  methods  that  were  shared  by  them  both.  But  to  all  of 
these  it  added  the  wild  privileges  of  choking,  bone-breaking,  dis- 
locating, eye-gouging,  and  the  infliction  of  tortures  and  grips  unmen- 
tionable and  disreputable.  At  first  the  conflict  was  in  suspense,  vic- 
tory favoring  neither  party;  but  as  the  contest  went  on  Puapuakea 
showed  a  slight  superiority,  and  at  the  finish  he  had  bettered  Maka-ku 
by  three  points,  or  <7^>  as  the  Hawaiians  uniquely  term  it. 

The  sisters,  Maile-lau-lii  and  Maile-pakaha,  who  had  been  inter- 
ested spectators  of  the  contest,  conceived  a  passionate  liking  for  the 
two  warriors  and  laid  their  plans  in  concert  to  capture  them  for 
themselves.  Fortunately  their  preferences  were  not  in  conflict. 
Maile-lau-lii  set  her  affections  on  Maka-ku,  while  the  vounger  sister 
devoted  herself  to  Pua-pua-kea. 

The  two  men  had  previously  allowed  their  fancies  to  range  abroad 
at  pleasure;  but  from  this  time  they  centered  their  hearts  on  these 
two  Mailes  and  settled  down  to  regular  married  life. 

Interest  in  the  actual  performance  of  the  hula  ki'i  was  stimulated 
by  a  resort  to  byplay  and  buffoonery.  One  of  the  marionettes,  for 
instance,  points  to  some  one  in  the  audience:  whereupon  one  of  the 
hoopaa  asks,  "  What  do  you  want  ?  ■'  The  marionette  persists  in  its 
pointing.  At  length  the  interlocutor,  as  if  divining  the  marionette's 
wish,  says :  "Ah.  3'ou  want  So-and-so.*'  At  this  the  marionette  nods 
assent,  and  the  hoopaa  asks  again,  "  Do  you  wish  him  to  come  to 
you?"  The  marionette  expresses  its  delight  and  approval  by  nods 
and  gestures,  to  the  immense  satisfaction  of  the  audience,  who  join 
in  derisive  laughter  at  the  expense  of  the  person  held  up  to  ridicule. 

Besides  the  marionettes  already  named  among  the  characters  found 
in  the  different  hula-plays  of  the  hula  ki'i.  the  author  has  heard 

"At,   literally  a  food,   a  course. 


94  BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

mention  of  the  following  marionettes:   Ku,  Kini-kiH,  Hoo-lehelehe- 
kn^  Ki'i-kii^  and  Nihi-aumoe. 

Nihi-aumoe  was  a  man  without  the  incumbrance  of  a  wife,  an 
expert  in  the  arts  of  intrigue  and  seduction.  Nihi-aumoe  is  a  word 
of  very  suggestivx^  meaning,  to  walk  softly  at  midnight.  In  Judge 
Andrews's  dictionary  are  found  the  following  pertinent  Hawaiian 
verses  apropos  of  the  word  nihi: 

E  hoopono  ka  hele  i  ka  uka  o  Puna ; 
E  nihi  ka  hele,  mai  hoolawehala, 
Mai  iiolio  a  ako  i  ka  pna,  o  hewa, 
O  inaiua  ke  Akua,  paa  ke  alauui, 
Aole  ou  ala  e  hiki  akii  ai. 

[Translation] 

Look  to  your  ways  in  upland  Puna ; 
Walk  softly,  commit  no  offense; 
Dally  not,  nor  pluck  the  flower  sin ; 
Lest  God  in  anger  bar  the  road, 
And  you  find  no  way  of  escape. 

The  marionette  Ki'i-ki'i  was  a  strenuous  little  fellow,  an  ilamuku^ 
a  marshal,  or  constable  of  the  king.  It  was  his  duty  to  carry  out 
with  unrelenting  rigor  the  commands  of  the  alii,  whether  they  bade 
him  take  possession  of  a  taro  patch,  set  fire  to  a  house,  or  to  steal 
upon  a  man  at  dead  of  night  and  dash  out  his  brains  while  he  slept. 

Referring  to  the  illustrations  (pi.  viii),  a  judge  of  human  nature 
can  almost  read  the  character  of  the  libertine  Xihi-aumoe  written  in 
his  features — the  flattened  vertex,  indicative  of  lacking  reverence 
and  fear,  the  ruffian  strength  of  the  broad  face;  and  if  one  could 
observe  the  reverse  of  the  picture  he  would  note  the  flattened  back- 
head,  a  feature  that  marks  a  large  number  of  Hawaiian  crania. 

The  songs  that  were  cantillated  to  the  hula  ki'i  express  in  some 
degree  the  peculiar  libertinism  of  this  hula,  which  differed  from  all 
others  by  many  removes.  They  may  be  characterized  as  gossipy, 
.sarcastic,  ironical,  scandal-mongering,  dealing  in  satire,  abuse,  hit- 
ting right  and  left  at  social  and  personal  vices — a  cheese  of  rank 
flavor  that  is  not  to  be  partaken  of  too  freely.  It  might  be  com- 
pared to  the  vaudeville  in  opera  or  to  the  genre  picture  in  art. 

Mele 

E  Wewehi,  ke,  ke! 
Wewehi   oiwi,    ke,    ke ! 
Punana  "  i  ka  luna,  ke,  ke ! 
Iloonoho   kai-oa,^  ke,   ke! 

"  Punnna.  Literally  a  nest ;  here  a  raised  couch  on  the  pola,  which  was  a  sheltered 
platform  In  the  waist  of  a  double  canoe,  corresponding  to  our  cabin,  for  the  use  of  chiefs 
and  other  people  of  distinction. 

^  Kai-oa.  The  paddle-men  ;    here  a   euphemism. 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE   OF   HAWAII  95 

5        Oluna  ka  wa'a,«  ke,  ke ! 
O  kela  wa'a,  ke,  ke! 
O  keia  wa'a,  ke,  ke!  ^ 

Ninau  o  Mawi,^  ke,  ke ! 
Nawai  ka  luaii'i?'^  ke,  ke! 
10        Na  Wewehi-loa,c  ke,  ke! 

Ua  make  Wewehi,  ke,  ke! 
Ua  ku  i  ka  ihe,  ke,  ke! 
Ma  ka  puka  kahiko,*^  ke,  ke ! 
Ka  puka  a  Mawi,  ke,  ke! 

15        Ka  lepe,  ka  lepe,  la  ! 

Ka  lepe,  ua  hina  a  uwe! 

Ninau   ka   lepe,    la ! 

Mana-mana  lii-lii, 

Mana-maua  heheiao, 
20        Ke  kumu  o  ka   lei^e? 

Ka   lepe   hiolo,   e? 

[Translation] 

Song 

O   Wewehi,    la,    la ! 
Wewehi,  peerless  form,  la,  la! 
Encouched  on  the  pola,  la,  la! 
Bossing  the  paddlers,  la,  la ! 
5        Men  of  the  canoe,  la,  la ! 
Of  that  canoe,  la,  la! 

Of  this  canoe,  la,  la ! 
Mawi  inquires,  la,  la ! 
Who  was  her  grand-sire?  la,   la! 
10        'Twas  Wewehi-loa,  la,  la  ! 
Wewehi   is  dead,   la,   la ! 
Wounded  with  spear,  la,  la ! 
The  same  old  wound,  la,  la  ! 
Wound  made  by  Mawi,  la,  la  ! 

"  Wa'a.  A  euphemism  for  tlie  human  body. 

''Mawi.  The  hero  of  Polynesian  mythology,  whose  name  is  usually  spelled  Maui,  like 
the  name  of  the  island.  Departure  from  the  usual  orthography  is  made  in  order  to 
secure  phonetic  accuracy.  The  name  of  the  hero  is  pronounced  Mah-xcee,  not  M6ic-ee,  as 
is  the  island.  Sir  George  Gray,  of  New  Zealand,  following  the  usual  orthography,  has 
given  a  very  full  and  interesting  account  of  him  in  his  Polynesian  mythology. 

<^  Weicehi-loa.  Another  name  for  Wahie-loa,  who  is  said  to  have  been  the  grandfather 
of  Wewehi.  The  word  luau'i  in  the  previous  verse,  meaning  real  father,  is  an  archaic 
form.     Another   form    is   kua-u'i. 

<*  Pwfco  kahiko.  A  strange  story  from  Hawaiian  mythology  relates  that  originally  the 
human  anatomy  was  sadly  deficient  in  that  the  terminal  gate  of  the  primcB  vice  was  closed. 
Mawi  applied  his  common-sense  surgery  to  the  repair  of  the  defect  and  relieved  the  situa- 
tion. Ua  olelo  ia  i  kinohi  ua  hana  ia  kanaka  me  ka  hcmahema  no  ka  nele  i  ka  hou  puka 
ole  ia  ka  okole,  a  na  Mawi  i  hoopau  i  keia  pilikia  mamuli  o  kana  hana  akamai.  Ua  kapa 
ia  keia  puka  ka  puka  kahiko. 


96  BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

15        The   flag,   lo  the  flag! 

The  flag  weeps  at  half-mast! 

The   flag,    indeed,   asks — 

Many,  many  the  flags, 

A  scandal  for  nnmber. 
20         Why  are  they  overtnrned? 

Why  their  banners  cast  down? 

The  author  has  met  with  several  variants  to  this  mele,  which  do 
not  greatly  change  its  character.  In  one  of  these  variants  the  fol- 
lowing changes  are  to  be  noted : 

Line  4.  Pikaka"  e  ka  lima,  ke,  ke ! 

Line  5.  Ka  hma  o  ka  hale,  ke,  ke ! 

Line  8.  Ka  puka  o  ka  hale,  a  ke,  ke ! 

Line  9.  E  noho  i  anei,  a  ke,  ke  I 

To  attempt  a  translation  of  these  lines  which  are  unadulterated 
slang : 

Line  4.  The  roof  is  a-dry,  la,  la ! 

Line  5.  The  roof  of  the  house,  la,  la  ! 

Line  8.  The  door  of  the  house,  la,  la  ! 

Line  9.  Turn  in  this  way,  la,  la  ! 

The  one  who  supplied  the  above  lines  expressed  inability  to  under- 
stand their  meaning,  averring  that  they  are  "classical  Hawaiian," 
meaning,  doubtless,  that  they  are  archaic  slang.  As  to  the  ninth 
line,  the  practice  of  "  sitting  in  the  door  "  seems  to  have  been  the 
fashion  with  such  folk  as  far  back  as  the  time  of  Solomon. 

Let  us  picture  this  princess  of  Maui,  this  granddaughter  of 
Wahieloa,  Wewehi,  as  a  Helen,  with  all  of  Helen's  frailty,  a  flirt- 
errant,  luxurious  in  life,  quickly  deserting  one  lover  for  the  arms  of 
another;  3'et  withal  of  such  humanity  and  kindness  of  fascination 
that,  at  her  death,  or  absence,  all  things  mourned  her — not  as  Lycidas 
was  mourned : 

"  With    cowslips    wan    that    hang    the   pensive    head, 

***** 
And  daflfodillies  fill  their  cups  with  tears," 

but  in  some  rude  pagan  fashion;  all  of  which  is  wrought  out  and 
symbolized  in  the  mele  with  such  imagery  as  is  native  to  the  mind  of 
the  savage. 

The  attentive  reader  will  not  need  be  told  that,  as  in  many  another 
piece  out  of  Hawaii's  old-time  legends,  the  path  through  this  song  is 
beset  with  euphuistic  stumbling  blocks.  The  purpose  of  language, 
says  Talleyrand,  is  to  conceal  thought.  The  veil  in  this  case  is  quite 
gauzy. 

The  language  of  the  following  song  for  the  marionette  dance,  hula 
ki'i,  as  in  the  one  previously  given,  is  mostly  of  that  kind  which  the 

'  Pikaka  (full  form  pikakao).  Dried  up,  juiceless. 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE   OF   HAWAII  97 

Hawaiians  term  olelo  kapekepeke^  or  olelo  hund,  shifty  talk,  or 
secret  talk.  We  might  call  it  slang,  though  it  is  not  slang  in  the 
exact  sense  in  which  we  use  that  word,  applying  it  to  the  improvised 
counters  of  thought  that  gain  currency  in  our  daily  speech  until  they 
find  admission  to  the  forum,  the  platform,  and  the  dictionary.  It  is 
rather  a  cipher-speech,  a  method  of  concealing  one's  meaning  from 
all  but  the  initiated,  of  which  the  Hawaiian,  whether  alii  or  com- 
moner, ^s'as  very  fond.  The  people  of  the  hula  were  famous  for  this 
sort  of  accomplishment  and  prided  themselves  not  a  little  in  it  as  an 
effectual  means  of  giving  appropriate  flavor  and  gusto  to  their  per- 
formances. 

Mele 

Ele-ol8  kau-kau ;  '^ 
Ka  liala-le,^  e  kau-kau, 
Ka  e-ele  ihi, 
Ele  ihi,  ele  a. 
5        Ka  e-ele  ku-pou ;  ^ 
Ku-pou. 
Ka  hala,  el^ 

[Translation] 
Song 

Point  to  a  dark  one. 
Point  to  a  dainty  piece, 
A  delicate  morsel  she  I 
A'ery  choice,  very  hot  I 
5        She  that  stoops  over — 
Aye  stoops ! 
Lo,  the  hala  fruit ! 

The  translation  has  to  be  based  largely  on  conjecture.  The  author 
of  this  bit  of  fun-making,  which  is  couched  in  old-time  slang,  died 
without  making  known  the  key  to  his  cipher,  and  no  one  whom  the 
present  writer  has  met  with  is  able  to  unravel  its  full  meaning. 

The  following  mele  for  the  hida  ki'i,  in  language  colored  by  the 
same  motive,  was  furnished  by  an  accomplished  practitioner  who 
had  traveled  far  and  wide  in  the  practice  of  her  art.  having  been  one 
of  a  company  of  hula  dancers  that  attended  the  Columbian  exposi- 
tion in  Chicago.     It  was  her  good  fortune  also  to  reach  the  antipodes 

"  Kau-kau.  Conjectural  meaning  to  point  out  some  one  in  the  audience,  as  the  marion- 
ettes often  did.     People  were  thus  sometimes  inveigled  in  behind  the  curtain. 

''  Hala-le.  Said  to  mean  a  sop,  with  which  one  took  up  the  juice  or  gravy  of  food  ;  a 
choice  morsel. 

«^  Ku-pou.  To  stoop  over,  from  devotion  to  one's  own  pursuits,  from  modesty,  or  from 
shame. 

<*  The  meaning  of  this  line  has  been  matter  for  much  conjecture.  The  author  has  finally 
adopted  the  suggestion  embodied  in  the  translation  here  given,  which  is  a  somewhat  gross 
reference  to  the  woman's  physical  charms. 

25352— Bull.  38— 09 7 


98  BUREAU   OF  AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

ill  lior  travels,  and  it  was  at  Berlin,  she  says,  that  she  witnessed  for 
the  first  time  the  European  counterpart  of  the  hula  ki'i,  the  "  Punch 
and  Judy"  show : 

Mclc  no  ka  Hula  KVi 

E  Ic'o  kau-kau,  kala  le'e; 
E  le'e  kau-kau. 
E  le'e  kau-kau,  kala  le'e. 
E  lepe  kau-kau. 
5        E  o-ku  ana  i  kai; 
E  u-au  al  aku ; 
E  u-au  ai  aku  ; 
E  u-au  ai  aku ! 
E-he-he,  e  I 

[Translation] 
Song  for  the  Hula  KVi 

Now  for  the  dance,  dance  in  accord; 
Prepare  for  the  dance. 
Now  for  the  dance,  dance  in  time. 
Up,  now,  with  the  flag! 
5         Step  out  to  the  right; 
Step  out  to  the  left ! 
Ha,  ha,  ha  ! 

This  translation  is  the  result  of  much  research,  yet  its  absolute 
accuracy  can  not  be  vouched  for.  The  most  learned  authorities 
{kaka-olelo)  in  old  Hawaiian  lore  that  have  been  found  by  the  writer 
express  themselves  as  greatly  puzzled  at  the  exact  meaning  of  the  mele 
just  given.  Some  scholars,  no  doubt,  would  dub  these  nonsense-lines. 
The  author  can  not  consent  to  any  such  view.  The  old  Hawaiians 
were  too  much  in  earnest  to  permit  themselves  to  juggle  with  words 
in  such  fashion.  They  were  fond  of  mystery  and  concealment,  appre- 
ciated a  joke,  given  to  slang,  but  to  string  a  lot  of  words  together 
without  meaning,  after  the  fashion  of  a  college  student  who  delights 
to  relieve  his  mind  by  shouting  "  Upidee,  upida,"  was  not  their  way. 
"  The  people  of  the  hula,"  said  one  man,  "  had  ways  of  fun-making 
peculiar  to  themselves." 

AVhen  the  hula-dancer  who  communicated  to  the  author  the  above 
song — a  very  accomplished  and  intelligent  woman — was  asked  for 
information  that  would  render  possible  it,s  proper  translation,  she 
rei)lied  that  her  part  was  only  that  of  a  mouthpiece  to  repeat  the 
words  and  to  make  appropriate  gestures,  he  pono  hda  wale  no ^ 
mere  parrot-work.  The  language,  she  said,  was  such  "  classic " 
Hawaiian  as  to  be  beyond  her  understanding. 


EMKRSON]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE   OF    HAWAII  99 

Here,  again,  is  another  song  in  argot,  a  coin  of  the  same  mintage 
as  those  just  given: 

Mele 

E  kaii-kan  i  hale  manii,  e! 
Ike  oe  i  ka  lolo  hiiliihulii,  e? 
I  ka  liululiulu  a  we'uwe'u,  eV 
I  ka  punohn,«  e,  a  ka  la  e  kau  uei? 
5        Walea  ka  manu  i  ka  wai,  e! 
I  ka  wai  lohi  o  ke  kini,  e! 

[Translation] 

Song 

Let's  worship  now  the  bird-cage. 
Seest  thou  the  fiirzy  woodland, 
The  shag  of  herb  and  forest, 
The  low  earth-tinting  rainbow, 
5        Child  of  the  Sun  that  swings  above? 
O,  happy  bird,  to  drink  from  the  pool, 
A  bliss  free  to  the  million ! 

This  is  the  language  of  symbolism.  \ATien  Venus  went  about  to 
ensnare  Adonis,  among  her  other  wiles  she  warbled  to  him  of  moun- 
tains, dales,  and  pleasant  fountains. 

The  mele  now  presented  is  of  an  entirely  different  character  from 
those  that  have  just  preceded.  It  is  said  to  have  been  the  joint  com- 
position of  the  high  chief  Keiki-o-ewa  of  Kauai,  at  one  time  the 
kahu  of  Prince  Moses,  and  of  Kapihe,  a  distinguished  poet — haku- 
mele^and  prophet.  (To  Kapihe  is  ascribed  the  prophetic  and  orac- 
ular utterance,  E  iho  ana  o  luna^  e  pii  ana  o  īalo;  e  ku  ana  ha  paia; 
e  moe  ana  haula;  e  kau  ana  hau-hiihu — o  lani  iluna,  o  homia  Halo — 
"  The  high  shall  be  brought  low,  the  lowly  uplifted ;  the  defenses  shall 
stand;  the  prophet  shall  lie  low;  the  mountain  walls  shall  abide — 
heaven  above,  earth  beneath.") 

This  next  poem  may  be  regarded  as  an  epithalamium,  the  celebra- 
tion of  the  mystery  and  bliss  of  the  wedding  night,  the  hodo  ana  of  a 
high  chief  and  his  high-born  kapu  sister.  The  murmur  of  the  breeze, 
the  fury  of  the  winds,  the  heat  of  the  sun,  the  sacrificial  ovens,  all  are 
symbols  that  set  forth  the  emotions,  experiences,  and  mysteries  of  the 
night : 

"  Punohu.  A  compact  mass  of  clouds,  generally  lying  low  in  the  heavens ;  a  cloud- 
omen  ;  also  a  rainbow  that  lies  close  to  the  earth,  such  as  is  formed  when  the  sun  is 
high  in  the  heavens. 


100  BUREAU   OF  AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

Mele 

(Ko'ilionua) 

O  Wanahili  "  ka  po  loa   ia  Mann'a,^ 
O  ka  pu  kan  kama  ^  i  Hawaii  akea ; 
O  ka  pu  leina  '^  kea  a  Kiha — 
O  Kiha    nui    a    Pii-lani —  (' 
5        O  Kanhi   kalana-honn'-a-Kama  ;^ 

O  ka  maka  iolena  ^  ke  hoohaulani  1-6 ! 
O  kela  kanaka   hoali  mauna,'' 

0  Ka  Lani  ku'i  bono  i  ka  moku.* 

1  walhona  kapuahi  kauaka  eha,^" 
10        Ai'  i  Kauai,  i  Oahu,  i  Maui, 

I  Hawaii  kahiko  o  Kea  we  enaeua,''' 
Ke  a-a  mal  la  me  ke  o-koko, 
Ke  lapa-lapa  la  i  ka  makaui, 
Makani  kua,  he  Naulu.' 
15         Kua  ka  AVaihoa  i  ka  Mikioi, 

»  Wanahili.  A  princess  of  the  mythological  period  belonging  to  Puna,  Hawaii. 

^  Manu'a.  A  king  of  Hilo,  the  son  of  Kane-hili,  famous  for  his  skill  in  spear-throwing, 
wifl/Af/rolling,  and  all  athletic  exercises.  He  was  united  in  marriage,  ho-ao,  to  the  lovely 
princess  Wanahili.     Tradition  deals  with  Manua  as  a  very  lovable  character. 

'^  Pu  kmi  kama.  The  conch  (pu)  is  figured  as  the  herald  of  fame.  Kau  is  used  in  the 
sense  of  to  set  on  high,  in  contrast  with  such  a  word  as  tvaiho,  to  set  down.  Kama  is  the 
word  of  dignity  for  children. 

^  Pu  leina.  It  is  asserted  on  good  authority  that  the  triton  {pu),  when  approached  in  its 
ocean  habitat,  will  often  make  sudden  and  extraordinary  leaps  in  an  effort  to  escape.  There 
is  special  reference  here  to  the  famous  conch  known  in  Hawaiian  story  as  Kiha-pu.  It  was 
credited  with  supernatural  powers  as  a  kupua.  During  the  reign  of  Umi,  son  of  Liloa,  it 
was  stolen  from  the  hciau  in  W'aipio  valley  and  came  into  the  hands  of  god  Kane.  In  his 
wild  awa-drinking  revels  the  god  terrified  Umi  and  his  people  by  sounding  nightly  blasts 
with  the  conch.  The  shell  was  finally  restored  to  King  Umi  by  the  superhuman  aid  of  the 
famous  dog   Puapua-leua-lena. 

f  Kiha-nui  a  Piilani.  Son  of  Piilani,  a  king  of  Maui.  He  is  credited  with  the  formidable 
engineering  work  of  making  a  paved  road  over  the  mountain  palis  of  Koolau,  Maui. 

f  Kauhi  kalana-honu'-a-Kama.  This  Kauhi,  as  his  long  title  indicates,  was  the  son  of 
the  famous  king,  Kama-lala-walu,  and  succeeded  his  father  in  the  kingship  over  Maui  and, 
probal)ly,  Lanai.  Kama-lala-walu  had  a  long  and  prosperous  reign,  which  ended,  however, 
in  disaster.  Acting  on  the  erroneous  reports  of  his  son  Kauhi,  whom  he  had  sent  to  spy 
out  the  land,  he  invaded  the  kingdom  of  Lono-i-ka-makahiki  on  Hawaii,  was  wounded  and 
defeated  in  battle,  taken  prisoner,  and  offered  up  as  a  sacrifice  on  the  altar  of  Lono's  god, 
preferring  that  death,  it  is  said,  to  the  ignominy  of  release. 

0  I-olena.  Roving,  shifty,  lustful, 

''  Kanaka  hoali  viauna.  Man  who  moved  mountains  ;  an  epithet  of  compliment  applied 
pprbai)s  to  Kiha,  above  mentioned,  or  to  tlie  king  mentioned  in  the  next  verse,  Kekauliko. 

*  Ku'i  hono  i  ka  mnku.  AVho  bound  together  into  one  (state)  the  islands  Maui,  Molokai, 
Lanai,  and  Kahoolawe.  This  was,  it  is  said,  Kekaulike,  the  fifth  king  of  Maui  after  Kama- 
lala-walu.  At  his  death  he  was  succeeded  by  Kamehameha-nui — to  be  distinguished  from 
the  Kamehameha  of  Hawaii — and  he  in  turn  by  the  famous  warrior-king  Kahekili.  who 
routed  the  invading  army  of  Kalaniopuu,  king  of  Hawaii,  on  the  sand  plains  of  Wailuku. 

i  I  vaihona  kapuahi  kanaka  ehā.  This  verse  presents  grammatical  difficulties.  The  word 
/  implies  the  Imperative,  a  form  of  request  or  demand,  "though  that  is  probably  not  the 
Intent.  It  seems  to  be  a  means,  authorized  by  poetical  license,  of  ascribing  honor  and  tabu- 
glory  to  the  name  of  the  person  eulogized,  who,  the  context  leads  the  author  to  think,  was 
Kekaulike.  The  island  names  other  than  that  of  Maui  seem  to  have  been  thrown  in  for 
poetical  effect,  as  that  king,  in  the  opinion  of  the  author,  had  no  power  over  Kauai.  Oahu, 
or  Hawaii.     The  purpose  may  have  been  to  assert  that  bis  glory  reached  to  those  islands. 

*  Keaue  cnaena.  Keawe,  whose  tabu  was  hot  as  a  burning  oven.  I'resumably  Keawe, 
the  son  of  ITml,  Is  the  one  meant. 

'  A'aulu.  The  sea-breeze  at  Walmea,  Kauai. 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN    LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  101 

Pu-a  ia  lalo  o  Hala-li'i," 
Me  he  alii,  alii,  la  no  ka  hele  i  Kekaha, 
Ka  liookiekie  i  ka  li'u-la,^ 
Ka  hele  i  ke  alia-lia  la,  alia ! 
•       20        Alia-lia  la'a-laaii  Kekaha. 

Ke  kaha  o  Kala-ihi,  Wai-o-lono. 
Ke  olo  la  ke  pihe  a  ka  La,  e ! 
Ke  nil  la  paha  i  Honua-ula. 

[Translation] 

(Distinct  utterance) 

Wanahili  bides  the  whole  night  with  Manii'a, 

By  trumpet  hailed  through  broad  Hawaii, 

By  the  white  A'aulting  conch  of  Kiha — 

Great  Kiha,  offspring  of  Pii-lani, 
5        Father  of  eight-branched  Kama-lala-walu. 

The  far-roaming  eye  now  sparkles  with  joy, 

Whose  energy  erstw^hile  shook  mountains, 

The  king  who  firm-bound  the  isles  in  one  state, 

His  glory,  symboled  by  four  human  altars, 
10        Reaches  Kauai,  Oahu,  Maui, 

Hawaii  the  eld  of  Keawe, 

AVhose  tabu,  burning  with  blood-red  blaze. 

Shoots  flame-tongues  that  leap  with  the  wind. 

The  breeze  from  the  mountain,  the  Naulu. 
15        Waihoa  humps  its  back,  while  cold  Mikioi 

Blows  fierce  and  swift  across  Hala-li'i. 

It  vaunts  like  a  king  at  Kekaha, 

Flaunting  itself  in  the  sun's  heat, 

And  lifts  itself  up  in  mirage, 
20        Ghost-forms  of  woods  and  trees  in  Kekaha — 

Sweeping  o'er  waste  Kala-ihl,  Water-of-Lono ; 

Wliile  the  sun  shoots  forth  its  fierce  rays — 

Its  heat,  i^erchance,  reaches  to  Honua-ula. 

The  mele  next  given  takes  its  local  color  from  Kauai  and  brings 
vividly  to  mind  the  experiences  of  one  who  has  climbed  the  mountain 
walls,  fali^  that  buffet  the  winds  of  its  northern  coast. 

Melc 
Kalalau,  pali  eku  i  ka  makani; 
Pu  ka  Lawa-kua,^  hoi  mau  i  Kolo-kini ; 
Nu  a  anahulu  ka  pa  ana  i-uka — 
Anahulu  me  na  po  ken  elua. 

» Hala-lii.  A  sandy  plain  on  Niihau,  where  grows  a  variety  of  sugar-cane  that  lies 
largely  covered  by  the  loose  soil,  ke  ko  eli  o  Hala-lii. 

"  LVii-la.  The  mirage,  a  common  phenomenon  on  Niihau,  and  especially  at  Mana,  on 
Kauai. 

'•  Laua-kua.  A  wind  in  JCalalau  that  blows  for  a  time  from  the  mountains  and  then, 
it  is  said,  veers  to  the  north,  so  that  it  comes  from  the  direction  of  a  secondary  valley, 
Kolo-kini,  a  branch  of  Kalalau.  The  bard  describes  it  as  continuing  to  blow  for  twelve 
nights  before  it  shifts,  an  instance,  probably,  of  poetic  license. 


102  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

5        Elna  Hono-pu  o  ia  kiia  kanaka ; 
Eliia  Ko'a-maiio  "  me  Wai-aloha, 
Ka  pnli  waba  iho,  waba  ibo  ^  me  ke  kua; 
Ke  keiki  piiii  iloko  o  ka  pali  nui. 
E  bii  an'  ^  e  Makua  i  Kalalan.  ^ 

[Translation] 

Soiig 

Tbe  mountain  walls  of  Kalalan 

Buffet  tbe  blasts  of  Lawa-kau, 

Tbat  surge  a  decade  of  nigbts  and  twain ; 

Tben,  wearied,  it  veers  to  tbe  nortb. 

5        Two  giant  backs  stand  tbe  cliffs  Hono-pu ; 
Tbe  falls  Wai-aloba  mate  witb  tbe  sea  : 
An  overbung  pali — tbe  climber's  back  swings  in 
Its  moutb — to  face  it  makes  one  a  cbild — 
Makua,  wbose  arms  embrace  Kalalau. 

The  mind  of  the  ancient  bard  was  so  narrowly  centered  on  the  small 
plot  his  imagination  cultivated  that  he  disregarded  the  outside  world, 
forgetting  that  it  could  not  gaze  upon  the  scenes  which  filled  his  eyes. 

The  valley  of  Kalalau  from  its  deep  recess  in  the  northwestern 
coa.st  of  Kauai  looks  out  upon  the  heaving  waiters  of  the  Pacific. 
The  mountain  walls  of  the  valley  are  abrupt,  often  overhanging. 
Viewed  from  the  ocean,  the  cliffs  are  piled  one  upon  another  like  the 
buttresses  of  a  Gothic  cathedral.  The  ocean  is  often  stormy,  and 
during  several  months  in  the  j^ear  forbids  intercourse  with  other 
parts  of  the  island,  save  as  the  hardy  traveler  makes  his  way  along 
precipitous  mountain  trails. 

The  hula  ala'^a-papa,  hula  ipu^  hula  pa-ipu  (or  kuolo),  the  hula 
hoo-nand^  and  the  hula  kn  were  all  performed  to  the  accompaniment 
of  the  ipu  or  calabash,  and,  being  the  only  ones  that  were  so  accom- 
panied, if  the  author  is  correctly  informed,  they  may  be  classed 
together  under  one  head  as  the  calabash  hulas. 

»  Ko'a-mano.  A  part  of  the  ocean  into  which  the  stream  Wai-aloha  falls. 

''  Wafia  iho.  With  mouth  that  yawns  downward,  referring;,  doubtless,  to  the  overarch- 
ing of  the  paīi,  precipice.  The  same  figure  is  applied  to  the  back  (kua)  of  the  traveler 
who  climbs  it. 

*■  Elision  of  the  final  a  in  una. 


BUREAU   OF  AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY 


BULLETIN  38     PLATE  X 


PAHU     HULA,     HULA    DRUM 


.   XII.— THE  HULA  PAHU 

The  hula  pahu  was  so  named  from  the  paliu^  or  drum,  that  was 
its  chief  instrument  of  musical  accompaniment  (pi.  x). 

It  is  not  often  that  the  story  of  an  institution  can  be  so  closely 
fitted  to  the  landmarks  of  history  as  in  the  case  of  this  hula ;  and  this 
comes  about  through  our  knoAvledge  of  the  history  of  the  pahu  itself. 
Tradition,  direct  and  reliable,  informs  us  that  the  credit  of  intro- 
ducing the  big  drum  belongs  to  La'a.  This  chief  flourished  between 
five  and  six  centuries  ago,  and  from  having  spent  most  of  his  life 
in  the  lands  to  the  south,  which  the  ancient  Hawaiians  called  Kahiki, 
was  himself  generally  styled  La'a-mai-Kahiki  (La'a-from-Kahiki). 
The  young  man  was  of  a  volatile  disposition,  given  to  pleasure,  and 
it  is  evident  that  the  big  drum  he  brought  Avith  him  to  Hawaii  on 
one  of  his  voyages  from  Kahiki  was  in  his  eyes  by  no  means  the 
least  important  piece  of  baggage  that  freighted  his  canoes.  On 
nearing  the  land  he  waked  the  echoes  with  the  stirring  tones  of  his 
drum,  which  so  astonished  the  people  that  they  followed  him  from 
point  to  point  along  the  coast  and  heaped  favors  upon  him  whenever 
he  came  ashore. 

La'a  was  an  enthusiastic  patron  of  the  hula  and  is  said  to  have 
made  a  tour  of  the  islands,  in  which  he  instructed  the  natives  in  new 
forms  of  this  seductive  pastime,  one  of  which  was  the  hula  ka-eke. 

There  is  reason  to  believe,  it  seems,  that  the  original  use  of  the  pahu 
was  in  connection  with  the  services  of  the  temple,  and  that  its  adapta- 
tion to  the  halau  was  simply  a  transference  from  one  to  another 
religious  use. 

The  hula  pahu  was  preeminently  a  performance  of  formal  and 
dignified  character,  not  such  as  would  be  extemporized  for  the 
amusement  of  an  irreverent  company.  Like  all  the  formal  hulas,  it 
was  tabu,  by  which  the  Hawaiians  meant  that  it  was  a  religious 
service,  or  so  closely  associated  with  the  notion  of  worship  as  to  make 
it  an  irreverence  to  trifle  with  it.  For  this  reason  as  well  as  for  its 
intrinsic  dignity  its  performance  was  reserved  for  the  most  distin- 
guished guests  and  the  most  notable  occasions. 

Both  classes  of  actors  took  part  in  the  performance  of  the  hula 
pahu,  the  olapa  contributing  the  mele  as  they  stood  and  went  through 
the  motions  of  the  dance,  while  the  hoopaa  maintained  the  kneeling 
position  and  operated  the  big  drum  with  the  left  hand.  AVliile  his 
left  hand  was  thus  engaged,  the  musician  with  a  thong  held  in  his 

"Full    form,    puhu-hula. 

103 


104  BUREAU   OF  AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bfll.  38 

right  hand  struck  a  tiny  drum,  the  pu-niu,  that  was  conveniently 
strapped  to  the  thigh  of  the  same  side.  As  its  name  signifies,  the 
pu-niu  was  made  from  coconut  shell,  being  headed  with  fish-skin. 

The  harmonious  and  rhythmic  timing  of  these  two  instruments 
called  for  strict  attention  on  the  part  of  the  performer.  The  pahu, 
having  a  tone  of  lower  pitch  and  greater  volume  than  the  other, 
was  naturally  sounded  at  longer  intervals,  while  the  pu-niu  delivered 
itS)  sharp  crisp  tones  in  closer  order. 

Mele 
(Ko'i-honua) 

0  Hilo  oe,  Hilo,  miiliwai  a  ka  iia  i  ka  lani, 

1  liana  ia  Hilo,  ko-I  aua  e  ka  ua. 
E  lial6  ko  Hilo  ma  i-o,  i-anei; 
Lenalena  Hilo  e,  panopano  i  ka  ua. 

5        Ua  louo  Pili-keko  o  Hilo  i  ka  wai ; 
O-kakala  ka  hnlu  o  Hilo  i  ke  aim ; 
Ua  kii  o  ka  paka  a  ka  ua  i  ke  one; 
Ua  moe  oni  ole  Hilo  i-luiia  ke  alo; 
Ua  hana  ka  uluna  lehu  o  Hana-kahi. 
10        Haule  ka  onohi  Hilo  o  ka  ua  i  ke  one; 
Loku  kapa  ka  hi-liilo  kai  o  Pai-kaka. 
Ha,  e! 

2 

A  Puna  an,  i  Kuki'i  au,  i  Ha'eha'e, 
Ike  au  i  ke  a  kino-lau  lebua. 
He  laau  *malalo  o  ia  poliaku. 
Haiiohano  Puna  e,  kehakelia  i  ka  ua, 
5        Kaliiko  man  no  ia  no-laila. 
He  aina  haalieo  loa  no  Puna ; 
I  liaalieo  i  ka  hala  me  ka  lehua ; 
He  niaikai  maluiia,  lie  a  inalalo; 
He  kelekele  ka  pai)a  o  Mau-kele. 
10        Kaliuli  Apua  e,  kele  ana   1  Mau-kele. 

[Translation! 

(Bombastic  style) 

Thou  art  Hilo,  Hilo,  flood-sato  of  heaven. 
Hilo  has  ix)wer  to  wring  out  the  rain. 
Let  Hilo  turn  here  and  turn  there; 
Hilo's  kept  from  employ,  somber  with  rain; 
5         Pili-keko  roars  with  full  stream;     ' 

The  feathers  of  Hilo  bristle  with  cold, 
And  her  hail-stones  smite  on  the  sand. 
She  lies  without  motion,  with  ujiturned  face. 
The  fire-places  pillowed  with  ashes; 
10        The  bullets  of  rain  are  slapping  the  land. 
Pitiless   rain    turmoiling   Pai-kaka. 
So,  indeed. 


EMERSON]  UNWMTTEN   literature   of   HAWAII  105 


In  Puna  was  I,  in  Ku-ki'i,  in  Ha'e-ha'e, 
I  saw  a  wraith  of  lehua,  a  burning  bush, 
A  fire-tree  beneath  the  hiva  plate. 
Magnificent  Puna,  fertile  from  rain, 
5        At  all  times  weaving  its  mantle. 
Aye  Puna's  a  land  of  splendor. 
Proudly  bedight  with  palm  and  lehua; 
Beauteous  above,  but  horrid  below. 
And  miry  the  plain  of  Mau-kele. 
10        Apua  upturned,  plod  on  to  Mau-kele. 

Mele 

Kau  lilua  i  ke  anu  Wai-aleale; 

He  maka  halalo  ka  lehua  makanoe;" 

He  lihilihi  kuku  ia  no  Aipo,^  e; 

0  ka  hulu  a'a  ia  o  Hau-a-iliki ;  ^ 

5        Ua  pehi  'a  e  ka  ua  a  eha  ka  nahele, 

Maui  ka  pua,  uwe  eha  i  ke  anu, 

1  ke  kukuna  la-wai  o  Mokihana.'^ 

Ua  hana  ia  aku  ka  pouo  a  ua  pololei; 
Ua  hai  'na  ia  aku  no  ia  oe; 
10        O  ke  ola  no  ia. 

O  kia'i  loko,  kia'i  Ka-ula.'^ 
Nana  i  ka  makani,  hoolono  ka  leo, 
Ka  halulu  o  ka  Malua-kele ;  f 
Kiel,  halo  i  Maka-ike-ole. 

15        Kamau  ke  ea  i  ka  halau  ^  a  ola ; 

He  kula  lima  ia  no  Wawae-noho,* 
Me  he  puko'a  hakahaka  la  i  Waahila 
Ka  momoku  a  ka  unu-lehua  o  Lehua. 
A  lehulehu  ka  hale  pono  ka  noho  ana, 

20        Loaa  kou  haawina — o  ke  aloha, 

Ke  hauna  *  mai  nei  ka  puka  o  ka  hale. 
Ea! 

'^  Lehua  makanoe.  The  lehua  trees  .that  grow  on  the  top  of  Wai-aleale.  the  mountain 
ma.ss  of  Kauai,  are  of  peculiar  form,  low,  stunted,  and  so  furzy  as  to  be  almost  thorny, 
kuku,  as  mentioned  in  the  next  line. 

''  Ai-po.  A  swamp  that  occupies  the  summit  basin  of  the  mountain,  in  and  about  which 
the  thorny  lehua  trees  above  mentioned  stand  as  a  fringe. 

'^Hau-a-iliki.  A  word  made  up  of  hau,  dew  or  frost,  and  iliki,  to  smite.  The  a  is  merely 
a  connective. 

'^  Mokihana.  The  name  of  a  region  on  the  flank  of  Wai-aleale,  also  a  plant  that  grows 
there,  whose  berry  is  fragrant  and  is  used  in  making  wreaths, 

«  Ka-ula.  A  small   rocky  island  visible  from  Kauai. 

f  Malua-kele.  A  wind. 

'  Halau.  The  shed  or  house  which  sheltered  the  canoe,  wa'a,  which  latter,  as  we  have 
seen,  was  often  used  figuratively  to  mean  the  human  body,  especially  the  body  of  a 
woman.  Kamau  ke  ea  i  ka  halau  might  be  translated  "  persistent  the  breath  from  her 
body."     "  There's  kames  o"  hinny  'tween  my  hive's  lips." 

f"  Waicae-noho.  Literally  the  foot  that  abides;  it  is  the  name  of  a  place.  Here  it  is 
to  be  understood  as  meaning  constancy.  It  is  an  instance  in  which  the  concrete  stands 
for  the  abstract. 

<  Hauna.  An  odor.  In  this  connection  it  means  the  odor  that  hangs  about  a  human 
habitation.     The  hidden  allusion,  it  is  needless  to  say,  is  to  sexual  attractiveness. 


106  BUREAU   OF  AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

[Translation] 
Song 

Wai-nloale  stands  haughty  and  cold, 
Her  lehun  bloom,  fog-soaked,  droops  pensive; 
The  thorn-fringe  set  about  swampy  Ai-po  is 
A  feather  that  flaunts  in  spite  of  the  pinching  frost. 
5        Her  herbage  is  pelted,  stung  by  the  rain ; 

Bruised  all  her  petals,  and  moaning  in  cold 
Mokihana's  sun,  his  wat'ry  beams. 
I  have  acted  in  good  faith  and  honor, 
My  complaint  is  only  to  you — 
10        A  matter  that  touches  my  life. 

Best  watch  within  and  toward  Ka-ula  ; 
Question  each  breeze,  note  every  rumor, 
Even  the  whisper  of  Malua-kele. 
Search  high  and  search  low,  unobservant. 

15        There  is  life  in  the  breath  from  her  body, 
Fond  caress  by  a  hand  not  inconstant. 
Like  fissured  groves  of  coral 
Stand  the  ragged  clumps  of  lehua. 
Many  the  houses,  easy  the  life. 

20        You  have  your  portion — of  love; 
Humanity  smells  at  the  door. 
Aye,  indeed. 

The  imagery  of  fhis  poem  is  peculiar!}^  obscure  and  the  meaning 
difficult  of  translation.  The  allusions  are  so  local  and  special  that 
their  meaning  does  not  carry  to  a  distance. 

Wai-aleale  is  the  central  mountain  mass  of  Kauai,  about  6,000 
feet  high.  Its  summit,  a  cold,  fog-swept  wilderness  of  swamp  and 
lake  beset  with  dwarfish  growths  of  lehua,  is  used  as  the  symbol  of  a 
woman,  impulsively  kind,  yet  in  turn  passionate  and  disdainful.  The 
physical  attributes  of  the  mountain  are  ascribed  to  her,  its  spells  of 
frosty  coldness,  its  gloom  and  distance,' its  fickleness  of  weather,  the 
repellant  hirsuteness  of  the  stunted  vegetation  that  fringes  the  cen- 
tral swamp — these  things  are  described  as  symbols  of  her  temper, 
character,  and  physical  make-up.  The  bloom  and  herbage  of  the 
wilderness,  much  pelted  by  the  storm,  are  figures  to  represent  her 
physical  charms.  But  spite  of  all  these  faults  and  imperfections,  a 
perennial  fragrance,  as  of  mokihana,  clings  to  her  person,  and  she  is 
the  object  of  devoted  love,  capable  of  weaving  the  spell  of  fascination 
about  her  victims. 

This  poem  furnishes  a  good  example  of  a  peculiarity  that  often  is 
an  obstacle  to  the  understanding  of  Hawaiian  poetry.  Tt  is  the 
breaking  up  of  the  composition  into  a  number  of  parts  that  have  but 
a  loose  seeming  connection  the  one  with  the  other. 


BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY 


BULLETIN   38     PLATE   XI 


V-.^^^R^^^^^^^^^^    ^H 

^^ 

( 

.^r^'f        ^^***       1  ■■ — *^ 

Ezs? 

1 

jlfllf 

!^ 

E 

• ' 

ULI-ULI,    A    GOURD    RATTLE 


XIII.— THE  HULA  ŪLI-ULI 

The  hula  uli-idi  was  so  called  from  the  rattle  which  was  its  sole 
instrument  of  accompaniment.  This  consisted  of  a  small  gourd 
about  the  size  of  a  large  orange,  into  the  cavity  of  which  were  put 
shot-like  seeds,  like  those  of  the  canna;  a  handle  was  then  attached 

(pi.  XI). 

The  actors  who  took  part  in  this  hula  belonged,  it  is  said,  to  the 
class  termed  hoopaa,  and  went  through  with  the  performance  while 
kneeling  or  squatting,  as  has  been  described.  While  cantillating  the 
mele  they  held  the  rattle,  uli-uU,  in  the  right  hand,  shaking  it 
against  the  palm  of  the  other  hand  or  the  thigh,  or  making  excursions 
in  one  direction  and  another.  In  some  performances  of  this  hula 
which  the  author  has  witnessed  the  olapa  also  took  part,  in  one  case 
a  woman,  who  stood  and  cantillated  the  song  with  movement  and 
gesture,  Avhile  the  hoopaa  devoted  themselves  exclusively  to  handling 
the  uli-uli  rattles. 

The  sacrificial  offerings  that  preceded  the  old-time  performances  of 
this  hula  are  said  to  have  been  awa  and  a  roast  porkling,  in  honor  of 
the  goddess  Laka. 

If  the  dignity  and  quality  of  the  meles  now  used,  or  reported  to 
have  been  used,  in  the  hula  uli-nU  are  to  be  taken  as  any  criterion 
of  the  quality  and  dignity  of  this  hula,  one  has  to  conclude  that  it 
must  be  assigned  to  a  rank  below  that  of  some  others,  such,  for  in- 
stance, as  the  ala''a-papa,  pa-ipu,  Pele,  and  others. 

David  Malo,  the  Hawaiian  historian,  author  of  Ka  Moolelo 
Hawaii^^  in  the  short  chapter  that  he  devotes  to  the  hula,  mentions 
only  ten  hulas  by  name,  the  ka-laau^  paH-umauma^  pahu^  pahii'a. 
ala'a-papa^  paH-paH^  pa-ipu^  ulili^  kolani^  and  the  hielei.  Ulili  is  but 
another  form  of  the  word  uli-uli.  Any  utterance  of  Malo  is  to  be 
received  seriously;  but  it  seems  doubtful  if  he  deliberately  selected 
for  mention  the  ten  hulas  that  were  really  the  most  important.  It 
seems  more  probable  that  he  set  down  the  first  ten  that  stood  forth 
prominent  in  his  memory.  It  was  not  Malo's  habit,  nor  part  of  his 
education,  to  make  an  exhaustive  list  of  sports  and  games,  or  in  fact 
of  anything.  He  spoke  of  what  occurred  to  him.  It  must  also  be 
remembered  that,  being  an  ardent  convert  to  Christianity,  Malo  felt 

« Translated  by  N.  B.  Emerson,  M.  D.,  under  the  title  "  Hawaiian  Antiquities,"  and 
published  by  the  B.  P,  Bishop  Museum.  Hawaiian  Gazette  Company  (Limited),  Hono- 
lulu, 1903. 

107 


108  BUREAU   OF  AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

himself  conscience-bonnd  to  set  himself  in  opposition  to  the  amuse- 
ments, sports,  and  games  of  his  peo])le,  and  he  was  unable,  apparently, 
to  see  in  them  any  good  whatsoever.  Malo  was  a  man  of  uncom- 
l)r()mising  honesty  and  rigidity  of  principles.  His  nature,  acting 
under  the  new  influences  that  surrounded  him  after  the  introduction 
of  Christianity,  made  it  impossible  for  him  to  discriminate  calmly 
between  the  good  and  the  pernicious,  between  the  purely  human  and 
poetic  and  the  depraved  elements  in  the  sports  practised  by  his  people 
during  their  period  of  heathenism.  There  was  nothing  halfway 
about  Malo.  Having  abandoned  a  system,  his  nature  compelled  him 
to  denounce  it  root  and  branch. 

The  first  mele  here  offered  as  an  accompaniment  to  this  hula  can 
boast  of  no  great  antiquity ;  it  belongs  to  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  and  was  the  product  of  some  gallant  at  a  time  when  princes 
and  princesses  abounded  in  Hawaii : 

Mele 

Aole  i  manao  ia  "^* 

Kahi  wai  a  o  Alekoki. 

liookohii   ka   iia   i   nka, 

Noho    mai    la    i    Nunann. 
5        Aiui-anu,  makehewa  au 

Ke  kali  ana  i-laila. 

Ka  ino'  palia  na  paa 

Koii  manao  i  ane'i, 

Au  i  lioomalu  ai. 
10        HoomaUi  oe  a  malu; 

Ua  main  keia  kino 

Mamuli  a  o  kon  leo. 

Kau  nui  akn  ka  manao 

Kahi  wai  a  o  Kapena. 
15        Pani'a  paa   ia   mni 

Na  manowai  a  o  uka; 

Abu  wale  na  ki'owai, 

Na  pa  pa -hale  o  luna. 

Malnna   a'e  no   wan, 
20        ]Ma  kc  kuono  liilii. 

A  waho,  a  o  Ma  ma  la, 

Hao  mai   nei  ehn-ehu ; 

Pulii  an  i  ka  hnna-kai, 

Kai  heahea   i  ka  ili. 
25         Ilookahi   no   koa   nui, 

Nana    e  alo   ia   ino.  , 

Ino-ino  mai  nei   luna, 

I   ka   hao  a   ka   makani. 

He  makani  ahai-lono; 
30        I.ohe'  ka   luna    i*  l*olekane. 

0  ia  pouli  nui 

Mea  ole  i  ku'u  manao. 

1  o,  i  a-no'i  nu, 

Ka  piina   l:i  <»  Ma'oma'e, 


EMEKsoxl  UNWRITTEN  LITERATURE   OF   HAWAII  109 

35        E  kilohi  au  o  ka  nani 

Xa  pua  i  Maima-ala. 

He  ala  oiia-ona  kou, 

Ke  pili  mai  i  aue'i, 

O  a'li   lebua   iila   i-liina, 
40        Ai  ouo  a  ua  mauu. 

[Translation] 

Song 

I  spurn  the  tlioiijrht  with  disdain 

Of  that  pool  Alekoki : 

On  the  upland  lingers  the  rain 

And  fondly  haunts  Nuuanu. 
5        Sharp  was  the  cold,  bootless 

My  waiting  up  there. 

I  thought  thou  wert  true, 

Wert  loyal  to  me, 

Whom  thou  laids't  under  bonds. 
10        Take  oath  now  and  keep  it : 

This  body  is  sacred  to  thee, 

Bound  by  the  word  of  thy  mouth. 

My  heart  leaps  up  at  thought 

Of  the  pool,  pool  of  Kapena ; 
15        To  me  it  is  fenced,  shut  off. 

The  water-heads  tightly  sealed  up. 

The  fountains  must  be  a-hoarding, 

For  skies  are  ever  down-pouring; 

The  while  I  am  lodged  up  aloft, 
20        Bestowed  in  the  cleft  of  a  rock. 

Now,  tossed  by  sea  at  Mamala, 

The  wind  drives  wildly  the  surf; 

I'm  soaked  with  the  scud  of  the  <K'ean, 

My  body  is  rough  with  the  rime. 
25         But  one  stout  hero  and  soldier. 

With  heart  to  face  such  a  storm. 

Wild  scud  the  clouds, 

Hurled  by  the  tempest, 

A  tale-bearing  wind, 
30        That   gossips  afar. 

The  darkness  and  storm 

Are  nothing  to  me. 

This  way  and  that  am  I  turning, 

Climbing  the  hill  Ma'e-ma'e. 
35        To  look  on  thy  charms,  dear  one, 

The  fragrant  buds  of  the  mountain. 

What  perfume  breathes  from  thy  body. 

Such  time  as  to  thee  I  come  cl^e. 

My  scarlet  bloom  of  lehua      ^^ 
40        Yields  nectar  sought  by  the  birds. 

This  mele  is  said  to  have  been  the  production  of  Prince  William 
Lunalilo — afterward  king  of  the  Hawaiian  islands — and  to  have  been 


110  BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

addressed  to  the  Princess  Victoria  Kamamalu,  whom  he  sought  in 
marriage.  Both  of  them  inherited  high  chief  rank,  and  their  off- 
spring, according  to  Hawaiian  usage,  would  have  outranked  her 
brothers,  kings  Kamehameha  IV  and  V.  Selfish  and  political  con- 
siderations, therefore,  forbade  the  match,  and  thereby  hangs  a  tale, 
the  shadow  of  which  darkens  this  song.  Every  lover  is  one  part 
poet;  and  Lunalilo,  even  without  the  love-flame,  was  more  than  one 
part  poet. 

The  poem  shows  the  influence  of  foreign  ways  and  teachings  and 
the  pressure  of  the  new  environment  that  had  entered  Hawaii,  in  its 
form,  in  the  moderation  of  its  language  and  imagery,  and  in  the 
coherence  of  its  parts;  at  the  same  time  the  spirit  of  the  song  and 
the  color  of  its  native  imagery  mark  it  as  the  product  of  a  Polynesian 
mind. 

According  to  the  author's  interpretation  of  the  song,  Alekoki 
(verse  2),  a  name  applied  to  a  portion  of  the  Xuuanu  stream  lower 
down  than  the  basin  and  falls  of  Kapena  {Kahi  wai  a  o  Kapena — verse 
14),  symbolizes  a  flame  that  may  once  have  warmed  the  singer's  im- 
agination, but  which  he  discards  in  favor  of  his  new  love,  the  pool 
of  Kapena.  The  rain,  which  prefers  to  linger  in  the  upland  regions 
of  Nuiianu  (verses  3  and  4)  and  which  often  reaches  not  the  lower 
levels,  typifies  his  brooding  affection.  The  cold,  the  storm,  and  the 
tempest  that  rage  at  Mamala  (verse  21) — a  name  given  to  the  ocean 
just  outside  Honolulu,  harbor — and  that  fill  the  heavens  with  driving 
scud  (verses  27  and  28)  represent  the  violent  opposition  in  high  quar- 
ters to  the  love-match.  The  tale-bearing  wind,  makani  ahai-lono 
(verse  29),  refers,  no  doubt,  to  the  storm  of  scandal.  The  use  of  the 
place-names  McCema'e  and  Mauna-ala  seem  to  indicate  Nuuanu  as  the 
residence  of  the  princess. 

Mete 

PALE    I 

Aiihea  wale  oo,  o  ka  Makani  liiu-wai? 
Pa  kolonahe  i  ka   ili-kai, 
Hoohni   iiie  ka   Xaulii, 
Na  iilu  hna  i  ka  ha  papa. 
5        An6  ail  ike  i  ke  ko  Hala-li'i, 
I  keia  wa  nana  ia  Leliiia. 

talp:  II 

Aia   i  Wainiea  kn'u   haku-lei; 
Hiii  pu  me  ka  wai  ula  ili-abi, 
Mohala   ka  pna   i  ke  one  o  Pawehe; 
10         Ka   lawe  a  ke  Koolau 

Nolio  pu  me  ka  iia  i)imonobn  ula  i  ka  naliele, 
Ike  1  ka  wai  kea  o  Makaweli; 


EMEBSON]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE   OF   HAWAII  ,,,  111 

Ua  nolio  pii  i  ka  nahele 
Me  ka  lei  hiuahina  o  Maka-li'i. 
15        Liilii  ka  uka  o  Koae'a ; 
Nana  i  ka  ua  lani-pili. 
Ka  0-6,  manu  le'a  o  ka  naliele. 

I  Pa-ie-ie  aii,  noho  pii  me  ke  auu. 
E  ha'i  a'e  oe  i  ka  puaua: 
20        Ke  kahuna  kalai-hoe  o  Puu-ka-Pele. 

[Translation] 

Song 

CANTO  I 

Whence  art  thou,  thirsty  wind. 
That  gently  kissest  the  sea, 
Then,  wed  to  the  ocean  breeze, 
Playest  fan  with  the  bread-fruit  tree? 
5        Here  sprawl  Hala-lii's  canes, 

There   stands   bird-haunted    Lehua. 

CANTO    II 

My  wreath-maker  dwells  at  Waimea. 

Partnered  is  she  to  the  swirling  river; 

They  plant  with  flowers  the  sandy  lea, 
10        While  the  bearded  surf,  tossed  by  the  breeze. 

Vaunts  on  the  hills  as  the  sun-bow. 

Looks  on  the  crystal   stream   Makaweli, 

And  in  the  wildwood  makes  her  abode 

With  Hinahina  of  silvern  wreaths. 
15        Koaea's  a  speck  to  the  eye. 

Under  the  low-hanging  rain-cloud, 

Woodland  home  of  the  plaintive  o-6. 

From  frost-bitten  Pa-ie-ie 
I  bid  you,  guess  me  the  fable: 
20        Paddle-maker  on   Pele's   mount. 

This  mele  comes  from  Kauai,  an  island  in  many  respects  individ- 
ualized from  the  other  parts  of  the  group  and  that  seems  to  have 
been  the  nurse  of  a  more  delicate  imagination  than  was  wont  to  flour- 
ish elsewhere.  Its  tone  is  archaic,  and  it  has  the  rare  merit  of  not 
transfusing  the  more  crudely  erotic  human  emotions  into  the  romantic 
sentiments  inspired  by  nature. 

The  Hawaiians  dearly  loved  fable  and  allegory.  Argument  or 
truth,  dressed  out  in  such  fanciful  garb,  gained  double  force  and  ac- 
ceptance. We  may  not  be  able  to  follow  a  poet  in  his  wanderings; 
his  local  allusions  may  obscure  to  us  much  of  his  meaning :  the  doc- 
trine of  his  allegory  may  be  to  us  largely  ?.  i  iddle :  and  the  connection 
between  the  body  of  its  thought  and  illustration  and  the  application, 
or  solution,  of  the  poetical  conundrum  may  be  past  our  comprehen- 
sion ;  but  the  play  of  the  poet's  fancy,  whether  childish  or  mature,  is 


112  BUREAU   OF  AMEKICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

/ 

an  intoreRting  study,  and  brings  us  closer  in  human  sympathy  to  the 
people  who  took  pleasure  in  such  things. 

In  translating  this  poem,  while  not  following  literally  the  language 
of  the  poet,  the  aim  has  been  to  hit  the  targe  of  his  deeper  meaning, 
without  hopelessly  involving  the  reader  in  the  complexities  of  Ha- 
waiian color  and  local  topography.  A  few  words  of  explanation 
must  suffice. 

The  Makani  Inii-wai  (verse  1) — known  to  all  the  islands — is  a 
wind  that  dries  up  vegetation,  literally  a  water-drinking  wind. 

The  Naulu  (verse  3)  is  the  ordinary  sea-breeze  at  Waimea,  Kauai, 
sometimes  accompanied  by  showers. 

nala-li'i  (verse  5)  is  a  sandy  plain  on  Niihau,  and  the  peculiarity 
of  its  canes  is  that  they  sprawl  along  on  the  ground,  and  are  often 
to  a  considerable  extent  covered  by  the  loose  soil. 

Lehua  (verse  G)  is  the  w^ell-known  bird-island,  lying  north  of 
Niihau  and  visible  from  the  Waimea  side  of  Kauai. 

The  wreath-maker,  hahu-lei  (verse  7),  who  dwells  at  Waimea,  is 
perhaps  the  ocean-vapor,  or  the  moist  sea-breeze,  or,  it  may  be,  some 
figment  of  the  poet's  imagination — the  author  can  not  make  out 
exactly  what. 

The  hinahina  (verse  14),  a  native  geranium,  is  a  mountain  shrub 
that  stands  about  3  feet  high,  w^ith  silver-gray  leaves. 

Maka-weli^  Maha-Wi^  Koae'a^  and  Pa-ie-ie  are  names  of  places  on 
Kauai. 

Puu-ka-Pele  (verse  '20)  as  the  name  indicates,  is  a  volcanic  hill, 
situated  near  Waimea. 

The  key  or  answ^er  (puana)^  to  the  allegory  given  in  verse  20,  Ke 
kahuna  kalai-hoe  o  Puu-ka-Pele^  the  paddle-making  kahuna  of  Pele's 
mount,  when  declared  by  the  poet  {haku-mele),  is  not  very  inform- 
ing to  the  foreign  mind ;  but  to  the  Hawaiian  auditor  it,  no  doubt, 
took  the  place  of  our  haec  fahula  docet^  and  it  at  least  showed  that 
the  poet  was  not  without  an  intelligent  motive.  In  the  poem  in 
point  the  author  acknowledges  his  inability  to  make  connection  be- 
tween it  and  the  body  of  the  song. 

One  merit  we  must  concede  to  Hawaiian  poetry,  it  wastes  no  time 
in  slow  approach.  The  first  stroke  of  the  artist  places  the  auditor 
in  niedias  res. 


XIV.— THE  HUT.A  PUILI 

The  character  of  a  hula  was  determined  to  some  extent  by  the  na- 
ture of  the  musical  instrument  that  was  its  accompaniment.  In  the 
hula  puili  it  certainly  seems  as  if  one  could  discern  the  influence  of 
the  rude,  but  effective,  instrument  that  was  its  musical  adjunct.  This 
instrument,  the  puili  (fig.  1),  consisted  of  a  section  of  bamboo  from 
which  one  node  with  its  diaphragm  had  been  removed  and  the  hollow 
joint  at  that  end  split  up  for  a  considerable  distance  into  fine  divi- 
sions, which  gave  forth  a  breezy  rustling  when  the  instrument  was 
struck  or  shaken. 

The  performers,  all  of  them  hoopaa,  were  often  placed  in  two  rows, 
seated  or  kneeling  and  facing  one  another,  thus  favoring  a  responsive 
action  in  the  use  of  the  puili  as  well  as  in  the  cantillation  of  the 
song.  One  division  would  sometimes  shake  and  brandish  their  instru- 
ments, while  the  others  remained  quiet,  or  both  divisions  would  per- 


FiG.  1. — Puili,  bamboo-rattle. 


form  at  once,  each  individual  clashing  one  puili  against  the  other  one 
held  by  himself,  or  against  that  of  his  vis-a-vis;  or  they  might  toss 
them  back  and  forth  to  each  other,  one  bamboo  passing  another  in 
mid  air. 

While  the  hula  puili  is  undeniably  a  performance  of  classical  an- 
tiquit3\  it  is  not  to  be  regarded  as  of  great  dignity  or  importance  as 
compared  with  many  other  hulas.  Its  character,  like  that  of  the 
meles  associated  with  it,  is  light  and  trivial. 

The  mele  next  presented  is  by  no  means  a  modern  production.  It 
seems  to  be  the  work  of  vsome  unknown  author,  a  fragment  of  folk- 
lore, it  might  be  called  by  some,  that  has  drifted  down  to  the  present 
generation  and  then  been  put  to  service  in  the  hula.  If  hitherto  the 
word  folklore  has  not  been  used  it  is  not  from  any  prejudice  against 
it,  but  rather  from  a  feeling  that  there  exists  an  inclination  to  stretch 
tlie  application  of  it  beyond  its  true  limits  and  to  make  it  include 
popular  songs,  stories,  myths,  and  the  like,  regardless  of  its  fitness  of 
application.  Some  writers,  no  doubt,  Avould  apply  this  vague  term 
to  a  large  part  of  the  poetical  pieces  which  are  given  in  this  book. 
25352— Bull.  38—09 8  113 


114.  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

On  the  same  principle,  why  should  they  not  apply  the  term  folklore 
to  the  myths  and  stories  that  make  up  the  body  of  Roman  and  Greek 
mythology  ?  The  present  author  reserves  the  term  folklore  for  appli- 
cation to  those  unappropriated  scraps  of  popular  song,  story,  myth, 
and  superstition  that  have  drifted  down  the  stream  of  antiquity  and 
that  reach  us  in  the  scrap-bag  of  popular  memory,  often  bearing  in 
their  battered  forms  the  evidence  of  long  use. 

Mele 

Hiki  mai,  hiki  mai  ka  La,  e. 
Aloha  wale  ka  La  e  kaii  nei, 
Ala  malalo   o  Ka-wai-hoa, « 
A  ka  lalo  o  Kauai,  o  Lehua. 
5        A  Kauai  au,  ike  i  ka  pali; 
A  Milo-lii  ^  pale  ka  pali  loloa. 
E  kolo  ana   ka   pali   o  Makua-iki ; « 
Kolo  o  Pu-a,  he  keiki, 
He  keiki  makua-ole  ke  uwe  uei. 

[Translation] 

Song 

It  has  come,  it  has  come :  lo  the  Sun ! 
How  I  love  the  Sun  that's  on  high; 
Below  it  swims  Ka-wai-hoa, 
On  the  slope  inclined  from  Lehua. 
5        On.  Kauai  met  I  a  pali, 

A  beetling  cliff  that  bounds  Milo-lii, 
And  climbing  up  Makua-iki, 
Crawling  up  was  Pua,  the  child. 
An  orphan  that  weeps  out  its  tale. 

The  writer  has  rescued  the  following  fragment  from  the  waste- 
basket  of  Hawaiian  song.  A  lean-to  of  modern  verse  has  been 
omitted;  it  was  evidently  added  within  a  generation: 

Mele 

Malua,^  ki'i  wai  ke  aloha, 
Hoopulu  i  ka  liko  ma  mane. 
IHeuleu    mai    na    maun, 
Inn  wai  lehua  o  Panaewa,*' 
5         E  walea  ana  i  ke  onaona, 
Ke  (me  wall  o  Ohele. 

"  Kauaihoa.  The  southern  point  of  Niihau,  which  is  to  the  west  of  Kauai,  the  evident 
standpoint  of  the  poet,  and  therefore  "  below  "  Kauai. 

'' MUo-lii.  A  valley  on  the  northwestern  angle  of  Kauai,  a  precipitous  region,  in  which 
travel  from  one  point  to  another  l)y  land  is  almost  impossible. 

*■  Makun-iki.  Literally  "  little  father."  a  name  given  to  an  overhanging  pali,  where  was 
provided  a  hanging  ladder  lo  make  travel  possible.  The  series  of  palis  in  this  region 
conies  to   an  end  at  Milo  Hi. 

"  The  Mdliifi  was  a  wind,  often  so  dry  that  it  sucked  up  the  moisture  from  the  land 
and  destroyed  the  tender  vegetation. 

•  Panacwa  was  a  woodland  region  much  talked  of  in  poetry  and  song. 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN    LITERATURE   OF   HAWAII  115 

Hele  mai  nei  kou  aloha 
A  lalawe  i  ko'u  nui  kino, 
Au  i  hookohu  ai, 
10         E  kiiko  i  ka  manao. 

Kuhi  no  paha  oe  no  Hopoe  ^ 
Nei  leliua  au  i  ka  bana  oiii  ai. 

[Translation] 
Sony 

Malua,  fetcli  water  of  love, 
Give  drink  to  this  ma  mane  bud. 
The  birds,  they  are  singing  ecstatic, 
Sipping  Panaewa's  nectared  lehua, 
5        Beside  themselves  with  the  fragrance 
Exhaled  from  the  garden  Ohele. 
Your  love  comes  to  me  a  tornado ; 
It  has  rapt  away  my  whole  body, 
The  heart  you  once  sealed  as  your  own, 
10        There  planted  the  seed  of  desire. 

Thought  you  'twas  the  tree  of  Hopoe, 
This  tree,  whose  bloom  you  would  pluck? 

What  is  the  argument  of  this  poem?  A  passion-stricken  swain, 
or  perhaps  a  woman,  cries  to  Malua  to  bring  relief  to  his  love-smart, 
to  give  drink  to  the  parched  mamane  buds — emblems  of  human  feel- 
ing. In  contrast  to  his  own  distress,  he  points  to  the  birds  carol- 
ing in  the  trees,  reveling  in  the  nectar  of  lehua  bloom,  intoxicated 
with  the  scent  of  nature's  garden.  What  answer  does  the  lovelorn 
swain  receive  from  the  nymph  he  adores?  In  lines  11  and  12  she 
banteringly  asks  him  if  he  took  her  to  be  like  the  traditional  lehua 
tree  of  Hopoe,  of  which  men  stood  in  awe  as  a  sort  of  divinity,  not 
daring  to  pluck  its  flowers  ?  It  is  as  if  the  woman  had  asked — if  the 
poet's  meaning  is  rightly  interpreted — "  Did  you  really  think  me 
plighted  to  vestal  vows,  a  tree  whose  bloom  man  was  forbidden  to 
pluck?" 

"  Hopoe  was  a  beautiful  young  woman,  a  friend  of  Hiiaka,  and  was  persecuted  by  Pele 
owing  to  jealousy.  One  of  the  forms  in  which  she  as  a  divinity  showed  herself  was  as  a 
lehua  tree  in  full  bloom. 


XV.— THE  HULA  KA-LAAU 

The  hula  ka-laau  (ka,  to  strike;  laau,  wood)  was  named  from  the 
instruments  of  wood  used  in  producing  the  accompaniment,  a  sort 
of  xylophone,  in  which  one  piece  of  resonant  wood  was  struck  against 
another.  Both  divisions  of  the  performers,  the  hoopaa  and  the  olapa, 
took  part  and  each  division  was  provided  with  the  instruments.  The 
cantillation  was  done  sometimes  by  one  division  alone,  sometimes  by 
both  divisions  in  unison,  or  one  division  Avould  answer  the  other,  a 
responsive  chanting  that  was  termed  haawe  aku^  haawe  mai — "  to 
give,  to  return." 

Ellis  gives  a  quotable  description  of  this  hula,  which  he  calls  the 
"  hura  ka  raau  :  " 

Five  musicians  advanced  first,  eacli  with  a  staff  in  his  left  hand,  five  or  six 
feet  lonj;,  about  three  or  four  inches  in  diameter  at  one  end,  and  tapering  off  to 
a  point  at  the  other*  In  his  right  hand  he  held  a  small  stick  of  hard  wood,  six 
or  nine  inches  long,  with  which  he  commenced  his  music  by  striking  the  small 
stick  on  the  larger  one,  beating  time  all  the  while  with  his  right  foot  on  a  stone 
placed  on  the  groimd  beside  him  for  that  purpose.  Six  women,  fantastically 
dressed  in  yellow  tapa^,  crowned  with  garlands  of  flowers,  having  also  wreaths 
of  native  manufacture,  of  the  sweet-scented  flowers  of  the  gardenia,  on  their 
necks,  and  branches  of  the  fragrant  mairi  (another  native  plant,)  bound  round 
their  ankles,  now  made  their  way  by  couples  through  the  crowd,  and,  arriving 
at  the  area,  on  one  side  of  which  the  musicians  stood,  began  their  dance.  Their 
movements  were  slow,  and,  though  not  always  graceful,  exhibited  nothing  offen- 
sive to  modest  propriety.  Both  musicians  and  dancers  alternately  chanted 
songs  in  honor  of  former  gods  and  chiefs  of  the  islands,  apparently  much  to  the 
gratification  of  the  spectators.  (Polynesian  Researches,  by  William  Ellis, 
IV,  78-70,  London,  1836.) 

The  mele  here  first  presented  is  said  to  be  an  ancient  mele  that  has 
been  modified  and  adapted  to  the  glorification  of  that  astute  politi- 
cian, genial  companion,  and  pleasure-loving  king,  Kalakaua. 

It  was  not  an  uncommon  thing  for  one  chief  to  appropriate  the 
mele  inoa  of  another  chief.  By  substituting  one  name  for  another, 
by  changing  a  genealogy,  or  some  such  trifle,  the  skin  of  the  lion,  so  to 
speak,  couhl  l)e  made  to  cover  with  more  or  less  grace  and  to  serve  . 
as  an  apparel  of  masquerade  for  the  ass,  and  without  interruption  so 
long  as  there  was  no  lion,  or  lion's  whelp,  to  do  the  unmasking. 

The  jioets  who  composed  the  mele  for  a  king  have  been  spoken  of 
as  "  the  king's  washtubs."     Mele  inoa  were  not  crown-jewels  to  be 
U6 


I 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN  LITERATURE   OF   HAWAII  117 

passed  from  one  incumbent  of  the  throne  to  another.  The  practice 
of  appropriating  the  mele  inoa  composed  in  honor  of  another  king 
and  of  another  line  was  one  that  grew  up  with  the  decadence  of  honor 
in  times  of  degeneracy. 

Mele 

O  Kalakaiia,  he  inoa, 

0  ka  pua  mae  ole  i  ka  la; 
Ke  pua  mai  la  i  ka  manna, 

1  ke  kuahiwi  o  Manua-kea; 
5        Ke  a  la  i  Ki-lau-e-a, 

Malamalama  1  Wahine-kapu, 
I  ka  luna  o  Uwe-kahnna, 
I  ka  pali  kapu  o  Ka-an-e-a. 
E  a  mai  ke  alii  kia-mauu ; 
10        Ua  Wall!  i  ka  linln  o  ka  mamo, 
Ka  pua  nani  o  Hawaii ; 
O  Ka-la-kaua,  he  inoa ! 

[Translation] 

Song 

Ka-la-kana,  a  great  name, 
A  flower  not  wilted  by  the  sun; 
It   blooms   on    the    mountains, 
In  the  forests  of  Mauna-kea ; 
5        It  burns  in  Ki-lau-e-a, 

Illumines  the  cliff  Wahine-kapu, 
The  heights  of  Uwe-kahuna, 
The  sacred  pali  of  Ka-au-e-a. 
Shine  forth,  king  of  bird-hunters, 
10        Resplendent  in  plumage  of  mamo. 
Bright  flower  of  Hawaii : 
Ka-la-kaua,   the  illustrious ! 

The  proper  names  Wahine-kapu^  Uwe-kahnna^  and  Ka-au-e-a  in 
the  sixth,  seventh,  and  eighth  verses  are  localities,  cliffs,  bluffs,  preci- 
pices, etc.,  in  and  about  the  great  caldera  of  Kilauea,  following  up 
the  mention  (in  the  fifth  verse)  of  that  giant  among  the  world's 
active  volcanoes. 

The  purpose  of  the  poem  seems  to  be  to  magnify  the  prowess  of 
this  once  famous  king  as  a  captivator  of  the  hearts  and  loving  at- 
tentions of  the  fair  sex. 

Mele 

Kona  kai  opua«  i  kala  i  ka  la'i; 
Opua  hinano  ua  i  ka  malie; 
Hiolo  na  wai  naoa  a  ke  kehau, 

"  opua  means  a  distinct  cloud-pile,  an  omen,  a  weather-sign. 


118  BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

Ke'  na-ū  °  la  na  kamalii, 
5        Ke  kaohi  la  i  ke  kukuiia  o  ka  la ; 
Kn'ii  la  koili  1  ke  kai — 
Piimehana  wale  la  aiiia ! 
Aloba  wale  ke  kini  o  Hoolufu, 
Aohe  lua  la  oe  ke  aloha, 
10        O  ku'u  piiiii,  o  ka  me'  owā. 

[Translation! 

Song 

The  cloud-piles  o'er  Kona's  sea  whet  my  joy, 
Clouds  that  drop  rain  in  fair  weather. 
The  clustered  dew-pearls  shake  to  the  ground ; 
The  boys  drone  out  the  na-ū  to  the  West, 
5        Eager  for  Sol  to  sink  to  his  rest. 

This  my  day  for  a  plunge  in  the  sea — 
The  Sun  will  be  warming  other  shores — 
Happy  the  tribes  of  that  land  of  calm ! 
Fathomless,  deep  is  my  love 
10        To  thee,  my  passion,  my  mate. 

The  author  of  this  love-song,  mele  ipo^  is  said  to  have  been  Kalola, 
a  widow  of  Kamehameha  I,  at  a  time  when  she  was  an  old  woman; 
the  place  was  Lahaina,  and  the  occasion  an  amour  between  Liholiho 
(Kamehameha  II)  and  a  woman  of  rank.  The  last  two  verses  of  the 
poem  have  been  omitted  from  the  present  somewhat  free,  yet  faith- 
ful translation,  as  thb}^  do  not  seem  to  be  of  interest  or  pertinent  from 
our  point  of  view,  and  there  is  internal  evidence  that  they  were  added 
as  an  afterthought. 

The  hulas  on  the  various  islands  differed  somewhat  from  one  an- 
other. In  general,  it  may  be  said  that  on  Kauai  they  were  presented 
with  -more  spirit  and  in  greater  variety  than  in  other  parts  of  the 
group.    The  following  account  will  illustrate  this  fact: 

About  the  year  1870  the  late  Queen  Emma  made  the  tour  of  the 
island  of  Kauai,  and  at  some  places  the  hula  was  performed  as  a 
recreation  in  her  honor.  The  hula  ka-laau  was  thus  presented;  it 
was  marked,  however,  by  such  peculiarities  as  to  make  it  hardly 
recognizable  as  being  the  same  performance  as  the  one  elsewhere 
known  by  that  name.  As  given  on  Kauai,  both  the  olapa  and  the 
lioopaa  took  part,  as  they  do  on  the  other  islands,  but  in  the  Kauai 
J 

»  Tho  word  na-n  refers  to  a  sportive  contest  involving  a  trial  of  lunj;-power.  that  was 
practised  by  the  youth  of  Kona,  Hawaii,  as  well  as  of  other  places.  They  stood  on  the 
shore  at  sunset,  and  as  the  lower  limb  of  the  sun  touched  the  ocean  horizon  each  one, 
having  filled  his  lungs  to  the  utmost,  began  the  utterance  of  the  sound  nn-u-u-u-u.  which 
he  must,  according  to  the  rules  of  the  game.  n>aintain  continuously  until  the  sun  had 
disappeared,  a  lapse  of  about  two  minutes'  time.  This  must  be  done  without  taking 
fresh  breath.  Anyone  inhaling  more  air  into  his  lungs  or  intermitting  the  utterance  of 
the  sound  was  compelled  by  the  umpire  to  withdraw  from  the  contest  and  to  sit  down, 
while  anyone  who  maintained  the  droning  utterance  during  the  prescribed  time  was  de- 
clared victor.      It  was  no  mean  trial. 


I 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE   OF   HAWAII  119 

performance  the  olapa  alone  handled  the  two  sticks  of  the  xylophone, 
which  in  other  parts  formed  the  sole  instrument  of  musical  accom- 
paniment to  this  hula.  Other  striking  novelties  also  were  introduced. 
The  olapa  held  between  their  toes  small  sticks  with  which  they  beat 
upon  a  resonant  beam  of  wood  that  lay  on  the  floor,  thus  producing 
tones  of  a  low  pitch.  Another  departure  from  the  usual  style  of  this 
hula  was  that  the  hoopaa,  at  the  same  time,  devoted  themselves 
with  the  right  hand  to  playing  upon  the  pu-niu,  the  small  drum, 
while  with  the  left  they  developed  the  deep  bass  of  the  pahu.  The 
result  of  this  outre  combination  must  have  been  truly  remarkable. 

It  is  a  matter  of  observation  that  on  the  island  of  Kauai  both  the 
special  features  of  its  spoken  language  and  the  character  of  its  myths 
and  legends  indicate  a  closer  relationship  to  the  groups  of  the  south- 
ern Pacific,  to  which  the  Hawaiian  people  owe  their  origin,  than  do 
those  of  the  other  islands  of  the  Hawaiian  group. 


XVT.— THE  HULA  ILI  ĪLI 

The  hula  Ui-ili^  pebble-dance,  was  a  performance  of  the  classical 
times,  in  which,  according  to  one  who  has  witnessed  it,  the  olapa 
alone  took  part.  The  dancers  held  in  each  hand  a  couple  of  pebbles, 
ili-ili — hence  the  name  of  the  dance — which  they  managed  to  clash 
against  each  other,  after  the  fashion  of  castanets,  thus  producing  a 
rude  music  of  much  the  same  quality  as  that  elicited  from  the 
''  bones  "  in  our  minstrel  performances.  According  to  another  wit- 
ness, the  drum  also  was  sometimes  used  in  connection  with  the 
pebbles  as  an  accompaniment  to  this  hula. 

The  ili-ili  was  at  times  a  hula  of  intensity — that  is  to  say,  was 
acted  with  that  stress  of  voice  and  manner  which  the  Hawaiians 
termed  ai-lia'a;  but  it  seems  to  have  been  more  often  performed  in 
that  quiet  natural  tone  of  voice  and  of  manner  termed  hoH-lionua^ 
which  may  be  likened  to  utterance  in  low  relief. 

The  author  can  present  only  the  fragment  of  a  song  to  illustrate 
this  hula: 

Mele 

A  lalo  maiia  o  Wai-pi'o, 
Ike  i  ka  nani  o  Hi'i-lawe. 
E  lawe  mai  a  oki 
I  na  hala  o  Naiie  i  ke  kai, 
5        I  na  leluia  lii-lii'ii  pali; 

Noho  aiia  lohe  i  ke  kani  o  ka  0-6, 
Hoolouo  akii  i  ka   leo  o  ke  kahuli. 

[Translation] 

We  twain  were  lodged  in  Wai-pi'o, 
Beheld  Hl'i-lawe,  the  2:rand. 
We  brought  and  cut  for  our  love-wreath 
The  rich  hala  drupe  from  Naue's  strand, 
5        Tufted  lehua  that  waves  on  the  ciiflf; 
Then  sat  and  gave  ear  to  song  of  0-6, 
Or  harked  the  chirp  of  the  tree-shell. 

Wai-'pi'o,  the  scene  of  this  idyl,  is  a  valley  deep  and  broad  whicli 
the  elements  have  scooped  out  in  the  windward  exposure  of  Hawaii, 
and  scarce  needs  mention  to  Hawaiian  tourists.    Hi'i-lawe  is  one  of 

120 


BUREAU  OF  AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY 


BULLETIN  38     PLATE  XII 


PUPU-KANI-OE,   POETICALLY  STYLED  KAHULI 
HAWAIIAN     TREE-SHELLS    lACHATINELLA    *    * 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN  LITERATURE   OF   HAWAII  121 

several  high  waterfalls  that  leap  from  the  world  of  clouds  into  the 
valley-basin. 

Kahidi  is  a  fanciful  name  applied  to  the  beautiful  and  unique  genus 
of  tree-shells  (Achatinella),  plate  xii,  that  inhabit  the  Hawaiian 
woods.  The  natives  are  persuaded  that  these  shells  have  the  power  of 
chirping  a  song  of  their  own,  and  the  writer  has  often  heard  the  note 
which  they  ascribe  to  them;  but  to  his  ear  it  was  indistinguishable 
from  the  piping  of  the  cricket.  This  is  the  song  that  the  natives 
credit  to  the  tree-shells: 

Mele 

Kahiili  aku, 
Kahuli  mai, 
Kahiili  lei  nla, 
Lei  akolea." 
5  '  Kolea,  kolea,^ 
Ki'i  ka  wai, 
Wai  akolea. 

[Translation] 

^ong   of   the   Tree-shell 

Trill  a-far, 
Trill   a-near, 
A  dainty   song-wreath, 
Wreath  akolea. 
5        Kolea,  Kolea, 

Fetch  me  some  dew, 
Dew  from  pink  akolea. 

This  little  piece  of  rustic  imagination  is  said  to  have  been  used 
in  the  hula,  but  in  connection  with  what  dance  the  author  has  not 
been  able  to  learn. 

"The  akolea  is  a  fern  (by  some  classed  as  a  Polypodium)  which,  according  to  Doctor 
Hillebrand  (Flora  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands),  "sustains  its  extraordinary  length  by  the 
circinnate  tips  which  twine  round  ^he  branches  of  neighboring  shrubs  or  trees." 

*  Kolea.  The  red-breasted  plover. 


XVII.— THE  HULA  KĀ  EKE  EKE 

The  kaekeeke  was  a  formal  hula  worthy  of  high  consideration. 
Some  authorities  assert  that  the  performers  in  this  dance  were  chosen 
from  the  hoopaa  alone,  who,  it  will  be  remembered,  maintained  the 
kneeling  position,  while,  according  to  another  authority,  the  olapa 
also  took  part  in  it.  There  is  no  reason  for  doubting  the  sincerity  of 
both  these  witnesses.  The  disagreement  probably  arose  from  hasty 
generalization.  One  is  reminded  of  the  wise  Hawaiian  saw,  already 
noted,  "  Do  not  think  that  your  halau  holds  all  the  knowledge." 

This  hula  took  its  name  from  the  simple  instrument  that  formed 
its  musical  accompaniment.  This  consisted  of  a  single  division  of 
the  long- jointed  bamboo  indigenous  to  Hawaii,  which  was  left  open 
at  one  end.  (The  varieties  of  bamboo  imported  from  China  or  the 
East  Indies  have  shorter  joints  and  thicker  walls,  and  will  not  an- 
swer the  purpose,  being  not  sufficiently  resonant.)  The  joints  used  in 
the  kaekeeke  were  of  different  sizes  and  lengths,  thus  producing  tones 
of  various  pitch.  The  performer  held  one  in  each  hand  and  the  tone 
was  elicited  by  striking  the  base  of  the  cylinder  sharply  against  the 
floor  or  some  firm,  nonresonant  body. 

On  making  actual  trial  of  the  kaekeeke,  in  order  to  prove  by  expe- 
rience its  musical  quality  and  capabilities,  the  writer's  pleasure  was 
as  great  as  his  surprise  when  he  found  it  capable  of  producing  mu- 
sical tones  of  great  purity  and  of  the  finest  quality.  Experiment  soon 
satisfied  him  that  for  the  best  production  of  the  tone  it  was  neces- 
sary to  strike  the  bamboo  cylinder  smartly  upon  some  firm,  inelastic 
substance,  such  as  a  bag  of  sand.  The  tone  produced  was  of  crys- 
talline purity,  and  by  varying  the  size  and  length  of  the  cjdinders  it 
j)roved  possible  to  represent  a  complete  musical  scale.  The  instru- 
ment was  the  germ  of  the  modern  organ. 

The  first  mele  to  be  presented  partakes  of  the  nature  of  the  alle- 
gory, a  form  of  composition  not  a  little  affected  by  the  Hawaiians: 

II  vie 

A  Hamnkna  an, 
Noho  i  ka  iilii  ha  la. 
Malihini  an  i  ka  liiki  ana, 
I  ka  ua  pe'epe'e  poliakn. 
5        Noho  oe  a  li'u-li'u, 
A  Inli-lnli  malie  iho. 
122 


E.MERSON]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  123 

He  keiki  akamai  ko  ia  pali ; 
Elima  no  pua  i  ka  lima. 
Kui  oe  a  lawa 
10        I  lei  no  ku'u  aloha ; 

Ma  lama  malie  oe  i  ka  makemake, 
I  lei  hooheno  no  ke  aloha  ole. 

Moe  oe  a  ala  mai ; 
Nana  iho  oe  i  kou  pono. 
15        Hai'na  ia  ka  puana  : 

Keiki  noho  pali  o  Hamakua ; 
A  waka-waka,  a  waka-waka. 

[Translation] 

8o7ig 

It  was  in  Hamakua ; 
I  sat  in  a  grove  of  Pandanus, 
A  stranger  at  my  arrival, 
A  rock  was  my  shelter  from  rain. 
5        I  found  it  a  wearisome  wait, 
Cautiously  shifting  about. 

There's  a  canny  son  of  the  cliff 
That  has  five  buds  to  his  hand. 
You  shall  twine  me  a  wreath  of  due  length, 
10        A  wreath  to  encircle  my  love, 

Whilst  you  hold  desire  in  strong  curb. 
Till  love-touch  thaws  the  cold-hearted. 

When  you  rise  from  sleep  on  the  mat. 
Look  down,  see  the  conquest  of  love. 
15        The  meaning  of  this  short  story? 

What  child  fondly  clings  to  the  cliff? 
Waka-waka,  the  shell-fish. 

The  scene  of  this  idyl,  this  love-song,  mele  hoipoipo,  is  Hamakua, 
a  district  on  the  windward  side  of  Hawaii,  subject  to  rain-squalls. 
The  poet  in  his  allegory  represents  himself  as  a  stranger  sitting  in  a 
pandanus  grove,  ulu  hala  (verse  2)  ;  sheltering  himself  from  a  rain- 
squall  by  crouching  behind  a  rock,  ua  pe^epe^e  pohaku  (verse  4) ; 
shifting  about  on  account  of  the  veering  of  the  wind,  luli-luli  malie 
iho  (verse  6).  Interpreting  this  figuratively,  Hamakua,  no  doubt, 
is  the  woman  in  the  case;  the  grove  an  emblem  of  her  personality 
and  physical  charms;  the  rain-squall,  of  her  changeful  moods  and 
passions.  The  shifting  about  of  the  traveler  to  meet  the  veering  of 
the  wind  would  seem  to  mean  the  man's  diplomatic  efforts  to  deal 
with  the  woman's  varying  caprices  and  outbursts. 

He  now  takes  up  a  parable  about  some  creature,  a  child  of  the  cliff — 
Hamakua's  ocean  boundary  is  mostly  a  precipitous  wall — which  he 
represents  as  a  hand  with  five  buds.  Addressing  it  as  a  servant, 
he  bids  this  creature  twine  a  wreath  sufficient  for  his  love,  kui  oe  a 


124  BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

lawa  (verse  9),  /  lei  no  ku'u  aloha  (verse  10).  This  creature  with 
five  buds,  what  is  it  but  the  human  hand,  the  errand-carrier  of  man's 
desire,  makemake  (verse  11)  ?  The  pali^  by  the  way,  is  a  figure  often 
used  by  Hawaiian  poets  to  mean  the  glory  and  dignity  of  the  human 
body. 

That  is  a  fine  imaginative  touch  in  which  the  poet  illustrates  the 
power  of  the  human  hand  to  kindle  love  in  one  that  is  cold-hearted, 
as  if  he  had  declared  the  hand  itself  to  be  not  only  the  wreath-maker, 
but  the  very  wreath  that  is  to  encircle  and  warm  into  response  the 
unresponsive  loved  one,  /  lei  hooheno  no  ke  aloha  ole   (verse  12). 

Differences  of  physical  environment,  of  social  convention,  of  ac- 
cepted moral  and  esthetic  standards  interpose  seemingly  impassable 
barriers  between  us  and  the  savage  mind,  but  at  the  touch  of  an  all- 
l)ervading  human  sympathy  these  barriers  dissolve  into  very  thin  air. 

Mele 

Kahiki-nuī,   aiiwahi «   ka   makani ! 

Nana  aku  au  ia  Kona, 

Me  he  kiia  lei  ahi  ^  la  ka  moku ; 

Me  he  lawa  uli  e,  la,  no 
5        Ku'ii  kai  pa-n  hala-ka  ^ 

I  ka  lae  o  Hana-malo ;  ^ 

Me  he  olohe  ill  polohiwa, 

Ke  ku  a  mauna, 

Ma  ka  ewa  lewa  ^  Hawaii. 
10        Me 'he  ihii  leiwi  la,  ka  moku, 

Kou  manna,  kon  palamoa :  f 

Kan  a  waha  mai  Manna-kea  ^ 

A  me  Mauna-loa,^ 

Ke  ku  a  Maile-hahei> 
15         Flnna  mai   Mauna   Kilohana  ^ 

I  ka  poohiwi  o  Hu'e-hu'e.* 

"  Auirahi  (a  word  not  found  in  any  dictionary)  is  said  by  a  scliolarly  Hawaiian  to  be 
an  archaic  form  of  the  word  mcahi,  or  uahi  (milk  of  fire),  smoke,  Kahiki-nui  is  a  dry 
ref?ion  and  the  wind   (makani)  often  fills  the  air  with  dust. 

*»  Kua  lei  ahi.  No  Hawaiian  has  been  found  who  professes  to  know  the  true  meaning  of 
these  words.     The  translation  of  them  here  given  is,  therefore,  purely  formal. 

"  Pa-u  halakā.  An  expression  sometimes  applied  to  the  hand  when  used  as  a  shield 
lo  one's  modesty  ;  here  it  is  said  of  the  ocean   (kai)   when  one's  body  is  immersed  in  it. 

''  Ilana-malf).  A  cape  that  lies  between   Kawaihae  and   Kaiiua   in  north   Kona. 

''  J'hra  lend.  In  this  reading  the  author  has  followed  the  authoritative  suggestion  of 
a  Hawaiian  expert,  substituting  it  for  that  first  given  by  another,  which  was  cJcira.  The 
latter  was  without  discoverable  meaning.  Even  as  now  given  conjectures  as  to  its 
meaning  are  at  variance.     The  one  followed  presents  the  less  difficulty. 

f  Palamoa.  The  name  of  a  virulent  kupua  that  acted  as  errand-carrier  and  agent  for 
sorcerers  (kahuna  dnaand)  ;  also  the  name  of  a  beautiful  grass  found  on  Hawaii  that 
has  a  pretty  red  seed.  Following  the  line  of  least  resistance,  the  latter  meaning  has 
been  adopted  ;    in  it  is  found  a  generic  expression  for  the  leafy  covering  of  the  island. 

0  Mauna-kca  and  Mauna-loa.  The  two  well-known  mountains  of  the  big  island  of 
Hawaii. 

''  Maile-hahei.  Said  to  be  a  hill   in  Kona. 

*  Kilohana  and  Ilu'c-hu'c.  The  names  of  two  hills  in  Kona,  Hawaii. 


EMERSON]  UNWKITTEN   LITEKATURE    OF    HAWAII  125 

[Translation] 
Song 

Kaliiki-nui,  land  of  wind-driven  smoke! 

Mine  eyes  gaze  with  longing  on  Kona ; 

A  fire-wreath  glows  aback  of  the  district, 

And  a  robe  of  wonderful  green 
5         Lies  the  sea  that  has  aproned  my  loins 

Off  the  point  of  Hana-malo. 

A  dark  burnished  form  is  Hawaii, 

To  one  who  stands  on  the  mount — 

A  hamper  swung  down  from  heaven, 
10        A  beautiful  carven  shape  is  the  island — 

Thy  mountains,  thy  splendor  of  herbage : 

Mauna-kea  and  Loa  stand   (in  glory)  apart. 

To  him  who  looks  from  Maile-hahei ; 

And  Kilohana  pillows  for  rest 
15         On  the  shoulder  of  Hu'e-hu'e. 

This  love-song — mele  holpolpo — which  would  be  the  despair  of  a 
strict  literalist — what  is  it  all  about  ?  A  lover  in  Kahiki-nui — of  the 
softer  sex,  it  would  appear — looks  across  the  wind-swept  channel  and 
sends  her  thoughts  lovingly,  yearningly,  over  to  Kona  of  Hawaii, 
which  district  she  personifies  as  her  lover.  The  mountains  and  plains, 
valleys  and  capes  of  its  landscapes,  are  to  her  the  parts  and  features 
of  her  beloved.  Even  in  the  ocean  that  flows  between  her  and  him, 
and  which  has  often  covered  her  nakedness  as  with  a  robe,  she  finds  a 
link  in  the  chain  of  association. 


XVTTT.— AN    INTERMISSION 

During  the  performance  of  a  hula  the  halau  and  all  the  people 
there  assembled  are  under  a  tabu,  the  imposition  of  which  was  accom- 
plished by  the  opening  prayer  that  had  been  offered  before  the  altar. 
This  w^as  a  serious  matter^  and  laid  everyone  present  under  the  most 
formal  obligations  to  commit  no  breach  of  divine  etiquette;  it  even 
forbade  the  most  innocent  remarks  and  expressions  of  emotion.  But 
when  the  performers,  wearied  of  the  strait- jacket,  determined  to  un- 
bend and  indulge  in  social  amenities,  to  lounge,  gossip,  and  sing 
informal  songs,  to  quaff  a  social  bowl  of  aw^a,  or  to  indulge  in  an 
informal  dance,  they  secured  the  opportunity  for  this  interlude  by 
suspending  the  tabu.  This  was  accomplished  by  the  utterance  of  a 
pule  hoo-noa^  a  tabu-lifting  prayer.  If  the  entire  force  of  the  tabu 
was  not  thus  removed,  it  was  at  least  so  greatly  mitigated  that  the 
ordinary  conversations  of  life  might  be  carried  on  without  offense. 
The  pule  was  uttered  by  the  kumu  or  some  person  w^ho  represented 
the  whole  company: 

Pule  lloo-noa 

Lelina  ^  i-luna, 
Lehua  i-lalo, 
A  wawae, 
A  Ka-uliia,* 
5        A  o  Haumea,'' 

Kou  makua-kane,** 
Mann  o  Kaāe ;  ^ 
A-koa-koa, 
O  Pe-kau,^ 
10        O  Pē-ka-nanā,i' 

"Lehua.     See  plate  xiii. 

''  Ka-ttlua.  The  name  of  the  third  month  of  the  Ilawiian  year,  corresponding  to  late 
January  or  February,  a  time  when  in  the  latitude  of  Hawaii  nature  does  not  refrain  from 
leafing  and  flowering. 

'■  Ilaumva.  The  name  applied  after  her  death  and  apotheosis  to  Papa,  the  wife  of  Wakea. 
and  the  ancestress  of  the  Hawaiian  race.  (The  Polynesian  Race,  A.  Fornander,  i,  205. 
London,  1878.) 

<*  It  is  doubtful  to  whom  the  expression  "  makua-kane  "  refers,  possibly  to  Wakea,  the 
husband  of  I'apa  ;  and  if  so,  very  properly  termed  father,  ancestor,  of  the  people. 

^  Manu  o  Kaāe  (Mnnu-o-Knāe  it  might  be  written)  is  said  to  have  been  a  goddess, 
one  of  the  family  of  Pele.  a  sister  of  the  sea  nymth  Moananui-ka-lehua,  whose  dominion 
was  in  the  waters  between  Oahu  and  Kauai.  She  is  said  to  have  had  the  gift  of  elo- 
guencp. 

f  Pe-k6u  refers  to  the  ranks  and  classes  of  the  gods. 

0  Pr-ka-tiand  refers  to  men,  their  ranks  and  classes. 

126 


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EMERSON]  UNWKITTEN   LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  127 

Papa    pan. 

Pau  a'e  ilnna; 

O  Ku-mauna, 

A  me  Laka, 
15        A  me  Ku, 

Ku  i  ka  wao, 

A  me  Hiua, 

Hina  mele-lani. 

A  ua  pau ; 
20        Pau  kakou; 

A  ua  noa ; 

Noa  ke  kahua ; 

Noa! 

[Translation] 
Power  to  Remove  Tabu 

Bloom  of  lehua  on  altar  piled, 

Bloom  of  leliua  below, 

Bloom  of  lehua  at  altar's  base, 

In  the  month  Ka-ulua. 
5        Present  here  is  Haumea, 

And  the  father  of  thee. 

And  the  goddess  of  eloquent  speech; 

Gather,   now   gather, 

Ye  ranks  of  gods, 
10        And  ye  ranks  of  men, 

Complete  in  array. 

The  heavenly  service  is  done. 

Service  of  Ku  of  the  mount. 

Service  of  Laka, 
15        And  the  great  god  Ku, 

Ku  of  the  wilds, 

And  of  Hina, 

Hina,  the  heavenly  singer. 

Now  it  is  done, 
20        Our  work  is  done; 

The  tabu  is  lifted. 

Free  is  the  place, 

Tabu-free ! 

Here  also  is  another  pule  hoo-noa,  a  prayer-song  addressed  to  Laka. 
an  intercession  for  the  lifting  of  the  tabu.  It  will  be  noticed  that 
the  request  is  implied,  not  explicitly  stated  All  heads  are  lifted,  all 
eyes  are  directed  heavenward  or  to  the  altar,  and  the  hands  with  a 
noiseless  motion  keep  time  as  the  voices  of  the  company,  led  by  the 
kumu,  in  solemn  cantillation,  utter  the  following  prayer: 


128  BUREAU   OF  AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

Pule  Uoo-noa  no  Laka 

Pupil  we'u-we'u«  e,  L^ka  e, 
O  kona  we'u-we'u  e  ku-wā ;  ^ 
O  Ku-ka-ohia-Lakā,^  e; 
Lana  me  Ku-pulii-pnlii ;  ^ 
5         Ka  I^eliua  me  ke  Koa  laii-lii ; 
O   ka   Lama   me  Mokii-halii, 
Ku-i-kfi-i  ^  me  ka  Hala-pepe; 
Lakou    me   Lau-ka-ie-ie, 
Ka  Palaf  me  Maile-lau-lii. 
10        Noa,  noa  i  kon  kuahu ; 
Noa,  noa  ia  oe,  Laka ; 
Pa-pa-lūa  noa  ! 

[Translation] 

Tahu-lifting  Pmycr  {to  Laka) 

Oh  wildwood  bouquet,  O  Laka  : 
Set  her  greenwood  leaves  in  order  due ; 
And  Ku,  god  of  Ohia-La-ka, 
He  and  Ku,  the  shaggy, 
5        Lehua  with  small-leafed  Koa, 
And  Lama  and  Moku-hali'i, 
Kii-i-kii-i  and  Hāla-pē-pē; 
And  with  these  leafy  I-e-i-e, 
Fern  and  small-leafed  Maile. 
10         Free,  the  altar  is  free ! 

Free  through  you,  Laka, 
Doubly  free ! 

But  even  now,  when  the  tabu  has  been  removed  and  the  assembly 
is  supposed  to  have  assumed  an  informal  character,  before  they  may 
indul^re  themselves  in  informalities,  there  remains  to  be  chanted  a 
dismissing  prayer,  pule  hooku'u^  in  which  all  voices  must  join : 

"  Pupu  ice'u-ice'u.  A  bouquet.  The  reference  is  to  the  wreaths  and  floral  decorations 
that  bedecked  the  altar,  and  that  were  not  only  offerings  to  the  goddess,  but  sj'nibols 
of  the  diverse  forms  in  which  she  manifested  herself.  At  the  conclusion  of  a  perform- 
ance the  players  laid  upon  the  altar  the  garlands  they  themselves  had  worn.  These  were 
in  addition  to  those  which  were  placed  there  before  the  play  began? 

^  Ku-ir6.  It  has  cost  much  time  and  trouble  «to  dig  out  the  meaning  of  this  word. 
The  fundamental  notion  is  that  contained  in  its  two  parts,  ku,  to  stand,  and  tea,  an 
interval  or  space,  the  whole  meaning  to  arrange  or  set  in  orderly  intervals. 

^"  La-M.  A  Tahitian  name  for  the  tree  which  in  Hawaii  is  called  lehua,  or  ohia. 
In  verse  .'i  the  Ilnwaiiau  name  ohia  and  the  Tahitian  laka  (accented  on  the  final 
syllable,  thus  distinguishing  it  from  the  name  of  the  goddess  Laka,  with  which  it  has 
no  discoverable  connection)  are  combined  in  one  form  as  an  appellation  of  the  god 
Ku — ku-ka-ohia-LakA.  This  is  a  notable  instance  of  the_  survival  of  a  word  as  a 
sacred  epithet  in  a  liturgy,  which  otherwise  had  been  lost  to  the  language. 

<*  Ku-pulu-jnilu.  Ku,  the  fuzzy  or  shagg>',  a  deity  much  worshiped  by  canoo-makers, 
represented  as  having  the  figure  of  an  old  man  with  a  long  beard.  In  the  sixth  verse 
(he  full  form  of  the  god's  name  here  given  as  Moku-Jia-li'i  would  be  Kn-mnku-halVi,  the 
last  part  being  an  epithet  applied  to  Ku  working  in  another  capacity.  Moku-hali'i  is  the 
one  who  bedecks  the  island.  His  special  emblem,  as  here  imi)lied,  was  the  lama,  a 
beautiful  tree,  whose  wood  was  formerly  used  in  making  certain  sacred  inclosures. 
From  this  comes  the  proper  name  Paltnua,  one  of  the  districts  of  Honolulu. 

^  Kū-ukū-i.  The  same  as  the  tree  now  called  ktt-ki'i-i,  the  tree  whose  nuts  were  used 
as  candles  and  flambeaus.     The  Samoan  name  of  the  same  tree  is  tu-i-tu-i. 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE   OF   HAWAII  129 

Pule  Hooku'u 

Ku  ka  makaia  a  ka  huaka'i  moe  ipo ;  ^ 
Ku  au,  liele; 
Noho  oe,  aloha ! 

Aloha  na  hale  o  makoii  1  makamaka-ole, 
5        Ke  alauui  hele  mauka  o  Huli-wale,''  la; 
H-u-l-i. 

E  hull  a'e  ana  i  ka  makana, 
I  ke  alana  ole  e  kanaenae  aku  ia  oe. 
Eia  ke  kanaenae,  o  ka  leo. 

[Translation] 

Dismissing  Prayer 

Doomed  sacrifice  I  in  the  love-quest, 
I  stand  [loin-girt]  ^  for  the  journey; 
To  you  who  remain,  farewell ! 
Farewell  to  our  homes  forsaken. 
5        On  the  road  beyond  In-decision, 
I  turn  me  about — 
Turn  me  about,  for  lack  of  a  gift, 
An  offering,  intercession,  for  thee — 
My  sole  intercession,  the  voice. 

This  fragment — two  fragments,  in  fact,  j)ieced  together — belongs 
to  the  epic  of  Pele.  As  her  little  sister,  Hiiaka,  is  about  to  start  on 
her  adventurous  journey  to  bring  the  handsome  Prince  Lohiau  from 
the  distant  island  of  Kauai  she  is  overcome  by  a  premonition  of  Pele's 
jealousy  and  vengeance,  and  she  utters  this  intercession. 

The  formalities  just  described  speak  for  themselves.  They  mark 
better  than  any  comments  can  do  the  superstitious  devotion  of  the 
old-timers  to  formalism,  their  remoteness  from  that  free  touch  of 
social  and  artistic  pleasure,  the  lack  of  which  we  moderns  often  la- 
ment in  our  own  lives  and  sigh  for  as  a  lost  art,  conceiving  it  to  have 
been  once  the  possession  of  "  the  children  of  nature." 

The  author  has  already  hinted  at  the  form  and  character  of  the 
entertainments  with  which  hula-folk  sometimes  beguiled  their  pro- 
fessional interludes.  Fortunately  the  author  is  able  to  illustrate  by 
means  of  a  song  the  very  form  of  entertainment  they  provided  for 
themselves  on  such  an  occasion.  The  following  mele,  cantillated  with 
an  accompaniment  of  expressive  gesture,  is  one  that  was  actually 
given  at  an  awa-drinking  bout  indulged  in  by  hula-folk.  The  author 
has  an  account  of  its  recital  at  Kahuku,  island  of  Oahu,  so  late  as 
the  year  1849,  during  a  circuit  of  that  island  made  by  King  Kame- 

«A  literal  translation  of  the  first  line  would  be  as  follows:  (Here)  stands  the  doomed 
sacrifice  for  the  journey  in  search  of  a  bed-lover. 

''  Huli-icale.  To  turn  about,  here  used  as  the  name  of  a  place,  is  evidently  intended 
figuratively  to  stand  for  mental  indecision. 

'^  The  bracketed  phrase  is  not  in  the  text  of  the  original.    • 

25352— Bull.  38—09 9 


IBO  BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bi  ll.  3.S 

hamelia  III.  This  niele  is  reckoned,  as  belonging  to  the  ordinary 
rei)ertory  of  the  huhi ;  but  to  which  particular  form  of  the  dance  it 
was  devoted  has  not  been  learned : 

Melc 

Ua  ona  o  Kane  i  ka  awa ; 

Ua  kau  ke  keba  «  i  ka  iiluna ; 

Ua  hi'o-lani  ^  i  ka  moena. 

Kipu  iiiai  la  i  ke  kapa  o  ka  noe. 
5         Noe-noe  iia  bokii  o  ka  laiii — 

Imo-imo  mai  la  i  ka  po  a'e-a'e. 

Maliana-lua  ^  lui  kukui  a  I.aiiikaula,'* 

He  kaula  no  Kane.^ 

Meha  na  pali  o  Wai-pi'o 
10        I  ke  kani  mau  o  Kiha-pti; 

A  ono  ole  ka  awa  a  ke  alii 

I  ke  kani  mau  o  Kiha-pu ; 

Moe  ole  kona  po  o  ka  Hooilo; 

Uluhua,  a  nlnhua, 
15         I  ka  mea  nana  e  hull  a  loaa 

I  kela  kupua  ino  i  ka  pali, 

Olali  la,  a  olali. 

[Translation] 
Song 

Kane  is  drunken  with  awa  ; 

His  head  is  laid  on  the  pillow; 

His  body  stretched  on  the  mat. 

A  trumpet  sounds  through  the  fog, 
5        Dimmed  are  the  stars  in  the  sky ; 

When  the  night  is  clear,  how  they  twinkle ! 

I.ani-kaula's  torches  look  double. 

The  torches  that  burn  for  Kane. 

Ghostly  and  drear  the  walls  of  Waipio 
10        At  the  endless  blasts  of  Kiha-pfi. 

The  king's  awa  fails  to  console  him: 

'Tis  the  all-night  couching  of  Kiha-pu. 

Broken  his  sleep  the  whole  winter; 

Downcast  and  sad,  sad  and  downcast, 
15        At  loss  to  find  a  brave  hunter 

Shall  steal  the  danmed  conch  from  the  cliff. 

Look,  how  it  gleams  [through  the  fog|  ! 

"  Krha  Is  an  elegant  expression  for  the  side  of  tliie  head. 

^  Hi'o-Jniii,  literally  to  turn  the  side  to  lieaven,  is  a  Hassic  expression  of  relinenient. 

'MdJunni-liKi,  literally  to  see  double,  was  an  accepted  test  of  satisfactory  drunkenness. 
It  reminds  the  author  of  an  expression  he  once  heard  used  by  the  comedian  (Marke  in 
tlie  play  of  Toodles.  While  in  a  maudlin  state  from  liquor  he  spoke  of  the  lighted  candb 
that  was  in  his  hand  as  a  "  double-barreled  candle." 

**  Lani-kaula  was  a  prophet  who  lived  on  Molokai  at  a  place  that  still  bears  his  name 
He  had  his  residence  in  the  midst  ©f  a  grove  of  fine  kukui  trees,  the  remnants  of  whicl' 
remain  to  this  day.  Torches  made  from  the  nuts  of  these  trees  were  supposed  to  be  of 
superior  quality  and  they  furnished  the  illumination  for  the  revelries  of  Kane  and  his 
fellows. 

'He  kuulu  )w  Kdiic.  A  literal  translation  would  be,  a  i)rophet  of  Kane. 


BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN 

ETHNOLOGY 

BULLETIN  38 

PLATE   XIV 

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EMEKSON]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE   OF    HAWAII  131 

Kane,  the  chief  god  of  the  Hawaiian  pantheon,  in  company  with 
other  immortals,  his  boon  companions,  met  in  revelry  on  the  heights 
bounding  Wai-pi'o  valley.  With  each  potation  of  awa  they  sounded 
a  blast  upon  their  conch-shells,  and  the  racket  was  almost  continuous 
from  the  setting  of  the  sun  until  drowsiness  overcame  them  or  the 
coming  of  day  put  an  end  to  their  revels. 

The  tumult  of  sound  made  it  impossible  for  the  priests  to  perform 
acceptably  the  offices  of  religion,  and  the  pious  king,  Liloa,  was  dis- 
tressed beyond  measure.  The  whole  valley  Avas  disturbed  and 
troubled  with  forebodings  at  the  suspension  of  divine  worship. 

The  chief  offender  was  Kane  himself.  The  trumpet  which  he  held 
to  his  lips  was  a  conch  of  extraordinary  size  (pi.  xrv)  and  credited 
with  a  divine  origin  and  the  possession  of  supernatural  power;  its 
note  was  heard  above  all  the  others.  This  shell,  the  famed  Kiha-pu, 
had  been  stolen  from  the  heiau  of  Paka'a-lana,  Liloa 's  temple  in  Wai- 
pi'o  valley,  and  after  many  adventures  had  come  into  the  hands  of 
god  Kane,  who  used  it,  as  we  see,  for  the  interruption  of  the  very 
services  that  were  intended  for  his  honor. 

The  relief  from  this  novel  and  unprecedented  situation  came  from 
an  unexpected  quarter.  King  Liloa 's  awa-patches  were  found  to  be 
suffering  from  the  nocturnal  visits  of  a  thief.  A  watch  was  set ;  the 
thief  proved  to  be  a  dog.  Puapua-lenalena,  whose  master  was  a  con- 
firmed awa-toper.  When  master  and  dog  were  brought  into  the 
presence  of  King  Liloa,  the  shrewd  monarch  divined  the  remarkable 
character  of  the  animal,  and  at  his  suggestion  the  dog  was  sent  on 
the  errand  which  resulted  in  the  recovery  by  stealth  of  the  famed 
conch  Kiha-pii.  As  a  result  of  his  loss  of  the  conch,  Kane  put  an' 
end  to  his  revels,  and  the  valley  of  Wai-pi'o  again  had  peace. 

This  mele  is  an  admirable  specimen  of  Hawaiian  poetry,  and  may 
be  taken  as  representative  of  the  best  product  of  Hawaii's  classical 
period.  The  language  is  elegant  and  concise,  free  from  the  redun- 
dancies that  so  often  load  down  Hawaiian  compositions.  Xo.  one,  it 
IS  thought,  will  deny  to  the  subject-matter  of  this  mele  an  unusual 
degree  of  interest. 

There  is  a  historic  side  to  the  story  of  the  conch-shell  Kiha-pu. 
Not  many  years  ago  the  Hawaiian  Museum  contained  an  ethnological 
specimen  of  great  interest,  the  conch-shell  Kiha-pu.  It  was  fringed, 
after  the  fashion  of  a  witch-doll,  with  strings,  beads,  and  wampum- 
like bits  of  mother-of-pearl,  and  had  great  repute  as  a  kupua  or  hick- 
bringer.  King  Kalakaua,  who  affected  a  sentimental  leaning  to  the 
notions  of  his  mother's  race,  took  possession  of  this  famous  '*  curio  " 
and  it  disappeared  from  public  view. 


XTX.— THE  HULA  NIAU-KANI 

The  hula  niau-kani  was  one  of  the  classic  dances  of  the  halau,  and 
took  its  name  from  the  musical  instrument  that  was  its  accompani- 
ment. This  was  a  simple,  almost  extemporaneous,  contrivance,  con- 
structed, like  the  jew's-harp,  on  the  principle  of  a  reed  instrument. 
It  was  made  of  two  parts,  a  broad  piece  of  bamboo  with  a  longitu- 
dinal slit  at  one  end  and  a  thin  narrow  piece  of  the  same  material, 
the  reed,  which  Avas  held  firmly  against  the  fenestra  on  the  concave 
side  of  \yc\vi  number  one.  The  convexity  of  the  instrument  was 
pressed  against  the  lips  and  the  sound  was  produced  by  projecting 
the  breath  through  the  slit  in  a  speaking  or  singing  tone  in  such  a 
way  as  to  cause  vibrations  in  the  reed.  The  manner  of  constructing 
and  operating  this  reed  instrument  is  suggestive  of  the  jew's-harp. 
It  is  asserted  by  those  who  should  know  that  the  niau-kani  was  an 
instrument  of  purely  Hawaiian  invention. 

The  performer  did -not  depend  simply  upon  the  musical  tone,  but 
rather  upon  the  modification  it  produced  in  the  utterances  that  were 
strained  through  it.  It  would  certainly  require  a  quick  ear,  much 
]:)ractice,  and  a  thorough  acquaintance  with  the  peculiarities  of  Ha- 
Avaiian  mele  to  enable  one  to  distinguish  the  words  of  a  song  after 
being  transformed  by  passage  through  the  niau-kani. 

As  late  as  about  thirty  or  forty  years  ago  the  niau-kani  was  often 
seen  in  the  hands  of  the  native  Hawaiian  youth,  who  used  it  as  a 
means  of  romantic  conversations  and  flirtation.  Since  the  coming  in 
of  the  Portuguese  and  their  imj^ortation  of  the  nku-lele^  the  taro- 
patch -fiddle^  and  other  cheap  stringed  instruments,  the  niau-kani  has 
left  the  field  to  them  and  disappeared. 

The  author's  informant  saw  the  niau-kani  dance  performed  some 
years  ago  at  Moana-lua,  near  Honolulu,  and  again  on  the  island  of 
Kauai.  The  dance  in  each  case  was  the  same.  -The  kumu,  aided  by 
a  pupil,  stood  and  played  on  the  niau-kani,  straining  the  cantilla- 
tions  through  the  ree(l-])r()te('ted  aperture,  while  the  olapa,  girls,  kept 
time  to  the  nuisic  with  the  movements  of  their  dancing. 
132 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN  LITERATURE   OF   HAWAII  133 

Mele 

E  pi'i  ka  wai  ka  nahele, 

U'ina,  nakolo  i  na  Molo-kama ;  « 

Ka  ua  lele  mawaho  o  Mamala-hoa. 

He  manao  no  ko'u  e  ike 
5        I  na  pua  ohi'a  o  Kupa-koili,^ 

I  hoa  kaunu  no  Manu'a-kepa ;  <? 

Ua  like  laua  me  Maha-moku.  ^ 

Anapa   i  ke  kai  o  Mono-lau.^ 

Lalau  ka  lima  a  noa  ia  ia  la, 
10        I  hoa  pili  no  Lani-huli.  f 

E  hull  oe  i  kii'u  makemake, 

A  loa'a  i  Kau-ka-opua.^ 

Eliia  no  pua  kau 

A  ka  manao  i  makemake  ai. 
15        Hoohihi  oe  a   hihi 

I  lei  kohu  no  neia  kino. 

Ahea  oe  hiki  mai? 

A  kau  ka  La  i  na  pali ;  ^ 

Ka  linli  a  ka  makani  Wai-a-ma'o/ 
20        Makemake   e   iki    ia    ka    Hala-mapu-ana, 

Ka  wai  lialana  i  Wai-pa.^" 

[Translation] 
Song 

Up    to    the    streams    in    the    wildwood, 
Where  rush  the  falls  Molo-kama, 
While  the  rain  sweeps  past  Mala-hoa, 
I  had  a  passion  to  visit 
5        The  forest  of  bloom  at  Koili, 

Note. — The  proper  names  belong  to  localities  along  the  course  of  the  Wai-oli  stream. 

f^  Molokama  (more  often  given  as  Xa  Molo-kama).  The  name  applied  to  a  succession  of 
falls  made  by  the  stream  far  up  in  the  mountains.  The  author  has  here  used  a  versifier's 
privilege,  compressing  this  long  word  into  somewhat  less  refractory  shape. 

*»  Kupa-koUi.  A  grove  of  mountain-apples,  ohia  ai,  that  stand  on  the  bank  of  the  stream 
not  far  from  the  public  road. 

<"  Manu'a-kepa.  A  sandy,  grass-covered  meadow  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river  from 
Kupa-koili. 

^  Maha-moku.  A  sandy  beach  near  the  mouth  of  the  river,  on  the  same  bank  as  Manu'a- 
kepa. 

^  Mono-lau.  That  part  of  the  bay  into  which  the  river  flows,  that  is  used  as  an 
anchorage  for  vessels. 

f  Lani-huli.  The  side  of  the  valley  Kilauea  of  Wai-oli  toward  which  the  river  makes  a 
bend  before  it  enters  the  ocean. 

"  Kait-ka-opua.  Originally  a  phrase  meaning  "  the  cloud-omen  hangs,"  has  come  to  be 
used  as  the  proper  name  of  a  place.  It  is  an  instance  of  a  form  of  personification  often 
employed  by  the  Hawaiians,  in  which  words  having  a  specific  meaning — such,  for  instance, 
as  our  "  jack-in-the-box  " — have  come  to  be  used  as  a  noun  for  the  sake  of  the  meaning 
wrapped  up  in  the  etymology.  This  figure  of  speech  is,  no  doubt,  common  to  all  lan- 
guages, markedly  so  in  the  Hawaiian.  It  may  be  further  illustrated  by  the  Hebrew 
name  Ichabod — "  his  glory  has  departed." 

^  A  kau  ka  La,  i  na  pali.  When  stands  the  sun  o'er  the  pali,  evening  or  late  in  the 
afternoon.     On  this  part  of  Kauai  the  sun  sets  behind  the  mountains. 

'  Wai-a-ma'o.    The  land-breeze,  which  sometimes  springs  up  at  night. 

i  Wai-pd.  A  spot  on  the  bank  of  the  stream  where  grew  a  pandanus  tree,  hala,  styled 
Ka-hala-mapu-ana,  the  hala-breathing-out-its-fragrance. 


134  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

To  give  love-oaress  to  Manu'a, 

And  her  iiei^'lihor  Maba-mokii, 

And  see  the  waters  flash  at  Mono-lau; 

My  hand  would  quiet  their  rage, 
10        Would  sidle  and  touch  Lani-huli. 

Grant  me  but  this  one  entreaty, 

We'll  meet  'ueath  the  omens  above. 

Two  flowers  there  are  that  bloom 

In  your  garden  of  being; 
15        Entwine  them  into  a  garland. 

Fit  emblem  and  crown  of  our  love. 

And  what  the  hour  of  your  coming? 

When  stands  the  Sun  o'er  the  pali, 

When  turns  the  breeze  of  the  land, 
20        To  breathe  the  perfume  of  hala. 

While  the  currents  swirl  at  Wai-pa. 

This  mele  is  the  language  of  passion,  a  song  in  which  the  lover 
frankly  pours  into  the  ear  of  his  inamorata  the  story  of  his  love  up 
to  the  time  of  his  last  enthrallment.  Verses  11,  12,  and  17  are  the 
language  of  the  woman.  The  scene  is  laid  in  the  rainy  valley  of 
Hanalei,  Kauai,  a  broad  and  deep  basin,  to  the  finishing  of  which 
the  elements  have  contributed  their  share.  The  rush  and  roar  of  the 
waters  that  unite  to  form  the  river  Wai-oli,  from  their  wild  tumbling 
in  the  falls  of  Molo-kama  till  they  pass  the  river's  mouth  and  mingle 
with  the  flashing  waves  of  the  ocean  at  Mono-lau,  Anapa  i  he  kai  o 
Mono-lau  (verse  SX,  are  emblematic  of  the  man's  passion  and  his 
quest  for  satisfaction. 


BUREAU  OF  AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY 


BULLETIN  38     PLATE   XV 


WOMAN     PLAYING    ON     THE    NOSE-FLUTE    'OHE-HANO-IHU) 


XX.— THE  HULA  OHE 

The  action  of  the  hula  ohe  had  some  resemblance  to  one  of  the  fig- 
ures of  the  Virginia  reel.  The  dancers,  ranged  in  two  i:)arallel  rows, 
moved  forward  Avith  an  accompaniment  of  gestures  until  the  head  of 
each  row  had  reached  the  limit  in  that  direction,  and  then,  turning 
outward  to  right  and  left,  countermarched  in  the  same  manner  to  the 
point  of  starting,  and  so  continued  to  do.  They  kept  step  and  timed 
their  gestures  and  movements  to  the  music  of  the  bamboo  nose-flute, 
the  ohe. 

In  a  performance  of  this  hula  witnessed  by  an  informant  the 
chorus  of  dancers  was  composed  entirely  of  girls,  while  the  kumu 
operated  the  nose-flute  and  at  the  same  time  led  the  cantillation  of 
the  mele.  This  seemed  an  extraordinary  statement,  and  the  author 
challenged  the  possibility  of  a  person  blowing  with  the  nose  into  a 
flute  and  at  the  same  time  uttering  words  with  the  mouth.  The 
Hawaiian  asserted,  nevertheless,  that  the  leader  of  the  hula,  the 
kumu,  did  accomplish  these  two  functions;  yet  his  answer  did  not 
remove  doubt  that  they  were  accomplished  jointly  and  at  the  same 
time.  The  author  is  inclined  to  think  that  the  kumu  performed  the 
two  actions  alternately. 

The  musical  range  of  the  nose-flute  was  very  limited;  it  had  but 
two  or,  at  the  most,  three  stops.  The  player  with  his  left  hand  held 
the  flute  to  the  nostril,  at  the  same  time  applying  a  finger  of  the 
same  hand  to  keep  the  other  nostril  closed.  With  the  fingers  of  his 
right  hand  he  operated  the  stops  (pi.  xv). 

Mele 
E  pi'  i  ka  nahele, 
E  ike  ia  Ka-wai-kini,<^ 
Nana  ia  Pihana-ka-lani,* 

«  Ka-tcai-kini.  The  name  of  a  rocky  bluff  that  stands  on  the  side  of  Mount  Wai-ale-ale, 
looking  to  Wailua.  It  is  said  to  divide  the  flow  from  the  great  morass,  the  natural 
reservoir  formed  by  the  hollow  at  the  top  of  the  mountain,  turning  a  part  of  it  in  the 
direction  of  Wai-niha,  a  valley  not  far  from  Hanalei,  which  otherwise  would,  it  is  said 
by  Hawaiians,  go  to  swell  the  stream  that  forms  the  Wailua  river.  This  rock,  in  the 
old  times,  was  regarded  as  a  demigod,  a  kupua,  and  had  a  lover  who  resided  in  Wai-lua, 
also  another  who  resided  in  the  mountains.  The  words  in  the  first  two  or  three  verses 
may  be  taken  as  if  they  were  the  utterance  of  this  Wai-lua  lo,ver,  saying  "  I  will  go  up 
and    see    my   sweetheart    Ka-wai-kini." 

^  Pihana-ka-lani.  Literally,  the  fullness  of  heaven.  This  was  a  forest  largely  of  lehua 
that  covered  the  mountain  slope  below  Ka-wai-kini.  It  seems  as  if  the  purpose  of  its 
mention  was  to  represent  the  beauties  and  charms  of  the  human  body.  In  this  romantic 
region  lived  the  famous  mythological  princes — alii  kupua  the  Hawaiians  called  them — 

135 


13G  BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

I  kela  manu  biiln  ma'e-ma'e," 
5        Nobo  ini  me  Ka-liale-lebua, 

Punabele  ia  Kaua-kabi-alii.^ 

E  Kaili,'^  e  Kaili,  e  I 

E  Kaili,  lau  o  ke  koa, 

E  Kaili,  lau  o  ke  koa, 
10        Moopuna  a  Hooipo-i-ka-Malanāi,<* 

Hiwa-biwa  a  ka  Lebua-wehe !  ^ 

Aia   ka  nani   i  Wai-ebii, 

I  ka  wai  kaili  piuiwai  o  ka  makemake. 

Makemake  an  i  ke  kalukalu  o  Kewa,/' 
1^        E  he'e  ana  i  ka  nalu  o  Maka-iwa. 

He  iwa-iwa  oe  na  ke  aloba, 

I  Wai-lua  nui  boano. 

Ano-ano  ka  bale,  aobe  kanaka, 

Ua  la'i  oe  no  ke  one  o  Ali-o. 
20        Aia  ka  ipo  i  ka  nabele. 

[Translation] 

Song 

Come  up  to  tbe  wildwood,  come; 

Let  us  visit  Wai-kini, 

And  gaze  on  Pibana-ka-lani, 

named  Kaua-hahi-aUi  and  Aiicohi-kupua,  with  their  princess  sister  Ka-hale-lehiia.  The 
second  name  mentioned  was  the  one  who  married  the  famous  heroine  of  the  romantic 
story  of  Laie-i-ka-icai. 

"  Manu  hulu  ma'ema'e.  An  allusion  to  the  great  number  of  plumage  birds  that  were 
reputed  to  be  found  in  this  place. 

*•  Puna-hele  ia  Kaua-kahi-aiii.  The  birds  of  the  region  are  said  to  have  been  on  very 
intimate  and  friendly  terms  with  Kaua-liahi-alii.      (See  note  6,  p.   135.) 

'^  Kaili.  The  full  form  is  said  to  be  Ka-ili-lau-o-ke-koa — Skin-like-the-leaf-of-the-koa.  In 
the  text  of  the  mele  this  name  is  analyzed  into  its  parts  and  written  as  if  the  phrase 
at  the  end  were  an  appellative  and  not  an  integral  part  of  the  name  itself.  This  was  a 
mythical  character  of  unusual  beauty,  a  person  of  superhuman  power,  kupua,  a  mistress 
of  the  art  of  surf-riding,  which  passion  she  indulged  in  the  waters  about  Wai-lua. 

''  HooiiKj-i-ka-Mahtnai.  A  mythical  princess  of  Wailua,  the  grandmother  of  Kaili.  This 
oft-quoted  phrase,  literally  meaning  to  make  love  in  the  (gently-blowing)  trade-wind,  has 
become  almost  a  stock  expression,  standing  for  romantic  love,  or  love-making. 

"  LcJiua-icehe.  The  piece  of  ocean  near  the  mouth  of  the  Wailua  river  in  which  Kaili 
indulged  her  passion  for  surf-riding. 

f  Kalu-kalu  o  Keica.  Kalu-kalu  may  mean  a  species  of  soft,  smooth  grass  specially 
tttted  for  sliding  upon,  which  flourished  on  the  inclined  plain  of  Kewfi.  Kauai.  One 
would  sit  upon  a  mat,  the  butt  end  of  a  coconut  leaf,  or  a  sled,  while  another  dragged 
it  along.  The  Hawaiian  name  for  this  sport  is  pahe'e.  Kalu-kalu  is  also  the  name  ap- 
plied to  "a  very  thin  gauze-like  kapa."  (See  Andrews's  Hawaiian  Dictionary.)  If  we 
suppose  the  poet  to  have  clearly  intended  the  first  meaning,  the  figure  does  not  tally  with 
the  following  verse,  the  fifteenth.     Verses  14  and  15  would  thus  be  made  to  read  : 

I  desire  the  kalu-kalu   (grass)   of  Kewfi. 
That  is  riding  the  surf  of  Maka-iwa. 

This  Is  an  Impossible  figure  and  makes  no  sense.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  we  take  another 
version  and  conceive  that  tlie  bard  had  in  mind  the  gauze-like  robe  of  kalu-kalu — using 
this,  of  course,  as  a  figure  for  the  person  clad  in  such  a  robe — the  rendering  I  have 
given, 

I  pine  for  the  sylph  robed  in  gauze. 

Who  rides  the  surf  Maka-iwa, 

would  not  only  make  a  possible,  but  a  poetic,  picture.  Let  the  critical  reader  judge 
which  of  these  two  versions  hits  closer  to  common  sense  and  probability. 


EMEKSON]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE   OF   HAWAII  137 

Its  birds  of  plumage  so  fine; 
5        Be  comrade  to  Hale-lehua, 

Soul-mate  to  Kau'kahi-alii. 

O,  Kaili,  Kaili ! 

Kaili,  leaf  of  the  koa, 

Graceful  as  leaf  of  the  koa, 
10        Granddaughter  of  goddess, 

Whose  name  is  the  breath  of  love. 

Darling  of  blooming  Lehua. 

My  lady  rides  with  the  gray  foam. 

On  the  surge  that  enthralls  the  desire. 
15        I  pine  for  the  sylph  robed  in  gauze, 

W^ho  rides  on  the  surf  Maka-iwa — 

Aye,  cynosure  thou  of  all  hearts. 

In  all  of  sacred  Wailua. 

Forlorn  and  soul-empty  the  house; 
20        You  pleasure  on  the  beach  Ali-6; 

Your  love  is  up  here  in  the  wildwood. 

This  mele  hoipoipo,  love-song,  like  the  one  previously  given,  is 
from  Kauai.  The  proper  names  that  abound  in  it,  whether  of  places, 
of  persons,  or  of  winds,  seem  to  have  been  mostly  of  Kauaian  origin, 
furnished  by  its  topography,  its  myths  and  legends.  They  have, 
however,  become  the  common  property  of  the  whole  group  through 
having  been  interwoven  in  the  national  songs  that  pass  current  from 
island  to  island. 


XXI.— THE    MUSIC    AND    MUSICAL    INSTRUMENTS    OF 

THE  HAWAIIANS 

A  bird  is  easier  captured  than  the  notes  of  a  song.  The  mele  and 
oli  of  Hawaii's  olden  time  have  been  preserved  for  us ;  but  the  music 
to  which  they  were  chanted,  a  less  perdurable  essence,  has  mostly 
exhaled.  In  the  sudden  transition  from  the  tabu  system  to  the  new 
order  of  things  that  came  in  with  the  death  of  Kamehameha  in  1811). 
the  old  fashion  of  song  soon  found  itself  antiquated  and  outdistanced. 
Its  survival,  so  far  as  it  did  survive,  was  rather  as  a  memorial  and 
remembrance  of  the  past  than  as  a  register  of  the  living  emotions  of 
the  present. 

The  new  music,  with  its  pa^  ho^  li — answering  to  our  do,  re,  mi « — 
was  soon  in  everj^body's  mouth.  From  the  first  it  was  e^^dently 
destined  to  enact  a  role  different  from  that  of  the  old  cantillation ; 
none  the  less  the  musical  ideas  that  came  in  with  it,  the  air  of  freedom 
from  tabu  and  priestcraft  it  breathed,  and  the  diatonic  scale,  the 
highway  along  which  it  marched  to  conquest,  soon  produced  a  notice- 
able reaction  in  all  the  musical  efforts  of  the  people.  This  new  seed, 
when  it  had  become  a  vigorous  plant,  began  to  push  aside  the  old 
indigenous  stock,  to  cover  it  with  new  growths,  and,  incredible  as 
it  may  seem,  to  inoculate  it  with  its  own  pollen,  thus  producing  a 
cross  which  to-day  is  accepted  in  certain  quarters  as  the  genuine 
article  of  Hawaiian  song.  Even  now,  the  people  of  northwestern 
America  are  listening  with  demonstrative  interest  to  songs  which 
they  suppose  to  be  those  of  the  old  hula,  but  which  in  realit}^  have  no 
more  connection  with  that  institution  than  our  negro  minstrelsy  has 
to  do  with  the  dark  continent. 

The  one  regrettable  fact,  from  a  historical  point  of  view,  is  that 
a  record  was  not  made  of  indigenous  Hawaiian  song  before  this 
process  of  substitution  and  adulteration  had  begun.  It  is  no  easy 
nuitter  now  to  obtain  the  data  for  definite  knowledge  of  the  subject. 

AMiilo  the  central  purpose  of  this  chapter  will  be  a  stud}"  of  the 
music  native  to  old  Hawaii,  and  especially  of  that  produced  in  the 
halau,  Hawaiian  music  of  later  times  and  of  the  present  day  can  not 
be  entirely  neglected;  nor  will  it  be  without  its  value  for  the  indirect 
light  it  will  shed  on  ancient  conditions  and  on  racial  characteristics. 
The  reaction  that  has  taken  place  in  Hawaii  within  historic  times  in 

°  The  enrly  American  missionaries  to  Hawaii  named  tlie  musical  notes  of  the  scale 
pa,  ko,  li,  ha,  uo,  la,  mi. 

138 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE   OF   HAWAII  139 

response  to  the  stimulus  from  abroad  can  not  fail  to  be  of  interest 
in  itself. 

There  is  a  peculiarity  of  the  Hawaiian  speech  which  can  not  but 
have  its  effect  in  determining  the  lyric  tone-quality  of  Hawaiian 
music;  this  is  the  predominance  of  vowel  and  labial  sounds  in  the 
language.  The  phonics  of  Hawaiian  speech,  we  must  remember, 
lack  the  sounds  represented  by  our  alphabetic  symbols  h,  c  or  s,  d,  /, 
g^  i,  q,  00,  and  z — a  poverty  for  which  no  richness  in  vowel  sounds  can 
make  amends.  The  Hawaiian  speech,  therefore,  does  not  call  into  full 
play  the  uppermost  vocal  cavities  to  modify  and  strengthen,  or  refine, 
the  throat  and  mouth  tones  of  the  speaker  and  to  give  reach  and  em- 
phasis to  his  utterances.  When  he  strove  for  dramatic  and  passional 
effect,  he  did  not  make  his  voice  resound  in  the  topmost  cavities  of  the 
voice-trumpet,  but  left  it  to  rumble  and  mutter  low  down  in  the 
throat-pipe,  thus  producing  a  feature  that  colors  Hawaiian  musical 
recitation. 

This  feature,  or  mannerism,  as  it  might  be  called,  specially  marks 
Hawaiian  music  of  the  bombastic  bravura  sort  in  modern  times,  im- 
parting to  it  in  its  strife  for  emphasis  a  sensual  barbaric  quality.  It 
can  be  described  further  only  as  a  gurgling  throatiness,  suggestive  at 
times  of  ventriloquism,  as  if  the  singer  were  gloating  over  some  wild 
physical  sensation,  glutting  his  appetite  of  savagery,  the  meaning 
of  which  is  almost  as  foreign  to  us  and  as  primitive  as  are  the 
mewing  of  a  cat,  the  gurgling  of  an  infant,  and  the  snarl  of  a  mother- 
tiger.  At  the  very  opposite  pole  of  development  from  this  throat- 
talk  of  the  Hawaiian  must  we  reckon  the  highly-specialized  tones 
of  the  French  speech,  in  which  we  find  the  nasal  cavities  are  called 
upon  to  do  their  full  share  in  modifying  the  voice-sounds. 

The  vocal  execution  of  Hawaiian  music,  like  the  recitation  of  much 
of  their  poetry,  showed  a  surprising  mastery  of  a  certain  kind  of 
technique,  the  peculiarity  of  which  was  a  sustained  and  continuous 
outpouring  of  the  breath  to  the  end  of  a  certain  period,  when  the 
lungs  again  drank  their  fill.  This  seems  to  have  been  an  inheritance 
from  the  old  religious  style  of  prayer-recitation,  which  required  the 
priest  to  repeat  the  whole  incantation  to  its  finish  with  the  outpour 
of  one  lungful  of  breath.  Satisfactory  utterance  of  those  old  prayer- 
songs  of  the  Aryans,  the  inantras,  was  conditioned  likewise  on  its 
being  a  one-breath  performance.  A  logical  analogy  may  be  seen 
between  all  this  and  that  unwritten  law,  or  superstition,  which  made 
it  imperative  for  the  heroes  and  demigods,  k'upiia,  of  Hawaii's 
mythologic  age  to  discontinue  any  unfinished  work  on  the  coming  of 
daylight." 

"  The  author  can  see  no  reason  for  supposing  that  this  prolonged  utterance  had  any- 
thing to  do  with  that  Hindoo  practice  belonging  to  the  yoga,  the  exercise  of  which  con- 
sists in  regulating  the  breath. 


140  BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bcll.  38 

AVhen  one  listens  for  the  first  time  to  the  musical  utterance  of  a 
Hawaiian  poem,  it  may  seem  only  a  monotonous  onflow  of  sounds 
faintly  punctuated  by  the  primary  rhythm  that  belongs  to  accent,  but 
lackino:  those  milestones  of  secondary  rhythm  which  set  a  period  to 
such  broader  divisions  as  distinguish  rhetorical  and  musical  phrasing. 
P^urther  attention  will  correct  this  impression  and  show  that  the 
Hawaiians  paid  strict  attention  not  only  to  the  lesser  rhythm  which 
deals  with  the  time  and  accent  of  the  syllable,  but  also  to  that  more 
comprehensive  form  which  puts  a  limit  to  the  verse. 

With  the  Hawaiians  musical  phrasing  was  arranged  to  fit  the  verse 
of  the  mele,  not  to  express  a  musical  idea.  The  cadencing  of  a 
musical  phrase  in  Hawaiian  song  was  marked  by  a  peculiarity  all  its 
own.  It  consisted  of  a  prolonged  trilling  or  fluctuating  movement 
called  ^'^,  in  which  the  voice  went  up  and  down  in  a  weaving  manner, 
touching  the  main  note  that  formed  the  framework  of  the  melody, 
then  springing  awa}"  from  it  for  some  short  interval — a  half  of  a  step, 
or  even  some  shorter  interval — like  an  electrified  pith-ball,  only  to 
return  and  then  spring  away  again  and  again  until  the  impulse 
ceased.  This  was  more  extensively  emplo3^ed  in  the  oli  proper,  the 
verses  of  which  were  longer  drawn  out,  than  in  the  mele  such  as 
formed  the  stock  pieces  of  the  hula.  These  latter  were  generally 
divided  into  shorter  verses. 

^Musical  Instruments 

The  musical  instruments  of  the  Hawaiians  included  man}^  classes, 
and  their  study  can  not  fail  to  furnish  substantial  data  for  any 
attempt  to  estimate  the  musical  performances,  attainments,  and 
genius  of  the  people. 

Of  drums,  or  drum-like  instruments  of  percussion,  the  Hawaiians 
had  four: 

1.  The  pahv^  or  pahu-hula  (pi.  x),  was  a  section  of  hollowed  log. 
Bread-fruit  and  coconut  were  the  woods  generally  used  for  this  pur- 
pose. The  tough  skin  of  the  shark  was  the  choice  for  the  drumhead, 
which  was  held  in  place  and  kept  tense  by  tightening  cords  of  coconut 
fiber,  that  passed  down  the  side  of  the  cylinder. 

The  workmanship  of  the  pahu,  though  rude,  was  of  tasteful  design. 
So  far  as  the  author  has  studied  them,  each  pahu  was  constructed  with 
a  diai)hragm  placed  about  two-thirds  the  distance  from  the  head, 
obtained  by  leaving  in  place  a  cross  section  of  the  log,  thus  making  a 
closed  chamber  of  the  drum-cavity  jH'oper,  after  the  fashion  of  the 
kettledrum.  The  lower  part  of  the  drum  also  was  hollowed  out  and 
carved,  as  will  be  seen  in  the  illustration.  In  the  carving  of  all  the 
specimens  examined  the  artists  have  shown  a  notable  fondness  for  a 
fenestrated  design  representing  a  series  of  arches,  after  the  fashion  of 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE   OF   HAWAII  141 

a  two-storied  arcade,  the  haunch  of  the  superimposed  arch  resting 
directly  on  the  crown  of  that  below.  In  one  case  the  lower  arcade 
was  composed  of  Roman,  while  the  upper  was  of  Gothic,  arches.  The 
grace  of  the  design  and  the  manner  of  its  execution  are  highly  pleas- 
ing, and  suggest  the  inquiry.  Whence  came  the  opportunity  for  this 
intimate  study  of  the  arch  ? 

The  tone  of  the  pahu  was  produced  by  striking  its  head  with  the 
finger-tips,  or  with  the  palm  of  the  hand ;  never  with  a  stick,  so  far 
as  the  writer  has  been  able  to  learn.  Being  both  heavy  and  unwieldly, 
it  was  allowed  to  rest  upon  the  ground,  and,  if  used  alone,  was  placed 
to  the  front  of  the  operator;  if  sounded  in  connection  with  the  in- 
strument next  to  be  mentioned,  it  stood  at  his  left  side. 

The  pahu,  if  not  the  most  original,  was  the  most  important  instru- 
ment used  in  connection  with  the  hula.  The  drum,  with  its  deep  and 
solemn  tones,  is  an  instrument  of  recognized  efficiency  in  its  power 
to  stir  the  heart  to  more  vigorous  pulsations,  and  in  all  ages  it  has 
been  relied  upon  as  a  means  of  inspiring  emotions  of  myster}^,  awe, 
terror,  sublimity,  or  martial  enthusiasm. 

Tradition  of  the  most  direct  sort  ascribes  the  introduction  of  the 
pahu  to  La'a — generally  known  as  La'a-mai-Kahiki  (La'a-from- 
Kahiki) — a  prince  who  flourished  about  six  centuries  ago.  He  Avas  of 
a  volatile,  adventurous  disposition,  a  navigator  of  some  renown,  hav- 
ing made  the  long  voyage  between  Hawaii  and  the  archipelagoes  in 
the  southern  Pacific — Kahiki — not  less  than  twice  in  each  direction. 
On  his  second  arrival  from  the  South  he  brought  with  him  the  big 
drum,  the  pahu,  which  he  sounded  as  he  skirted  the  coast  quite  out 
to  sea,  to  the  wonder  and  admiration  of  the  natives  on  the  land.  La'a, 
being  of  an  artistic  temperament  and  an  ardent  patron  of  the  hula, 
at  once  gave  the  divine  art  of  Laka  the  benefit  of  this  newly  im- 
ported instrument.  He  traveled  from  place  to  place,  instructing  the 
teachers  and  inspiring  them  with  new  ideals.  It  was  he  also  who 
introduced  into  the  hula  the  kaekeeke  as  an  instrument  of  music. 

2.  The  pu-niu  (pi.  xvi)  was  a  small  drum  made  from  the  shell  of 
a  coconut.  The  top  part,  that  containing  the  eyes,  was  removed, 
and  the  shell  having  been  smoothed  and  polished,  the  opening  was 
tightly  covered  with  the  skin  of  some  scaleless  fish — that  of  the 
kala  (Acanthurus  unicornis)  was  preferred.  A  venerable  kumu-hula 
states  that  it  was  his  practice  to  use  only  the  skin  taken  from  the 
right  side  of  the  fish,  because  he  found  that  it  produced  a  finer  quality 
of  sound  than  that  of  the  other  side.  The  Hawaiian  mind  was  very 
insistent  on  little  matters  of  this  sort — the  mint,  anise,  and  cummin, 
of  their  system.  The  drumhead  was  stretched  and  placed  in  position 
while  moist  and  flexible,  and  was  then  made  fast  to  a  ring-shaped 
cushion — poaha — of  fiber  or  tapa  that  hugged  the  base  of  the  shell. 


142  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

The  Hawaiians  sometimes  made  use  of  the  clear  gum  of  the  kukui 
tree  to  aid  in  fixing  the  drumhead  in  place. 

When  in  use  the  pu-niu  was  lashed  to  the  right  thigh  for  the  con- 
venience of  the  i^erformer,  who  played  upon  it  with  a  thong  of 
braided  fibers  held  in  his  right  hand  (fig.  2),  his  left  thus  being  free 
to  manipulate  the  big  drum  that  stood  on  the  other  side. 

Of  three  pu-niu  in  the  author's  collection,  one,  when  struck,  gives 
off  the  sound  of  c  below  the  staff;  another  that  of  c#  below  the 
staff,  and  a  third  that  of  ē#  in  the  staff. 

AMiile  the  grand  vibrations  of  the  pahu  filled  the  air  with  their 
solemn  tremor,  the  lighter  and  sharper  tones  of  the  pu-niu  gave  a 
piquancy  to  the  effect,  adding  a  feature  which  may  be  likened  to  the 
sparkling  ripples  which  the  breeze  carves  in  the  ocean's  swell. 

3.  The  ipu  or  ipu-Jmla  (pi.  vii),  though  not  strictly  a  drum,  was  a 
drumlike  instrument.  It  was  made  by  joining  closely  together  two 
pear-shaped  gourds  of  large  size  in  such  fashion  as  to  make  a  body 
shaped  like  a  figure  8.     An  opening  was  made  in  the  upper  end  of 


Fig.  2. — Ka,  drumstick  for  pu-niu.      (PI.  xvi.) 

the  smaller  gourd  to  give  exit  to  the  sound.  The  cavities  of  the  two 
gourde  were  thrown  into  one,  thus  making  a  single  column  of  air, 
which,  in  vibration,  gave  off  a  note  of  clear  bass  pitch.  An  ipu  of 
large  size  in  the  author's  collection  emits  the  tone  of  c  in  the  bass. 
Though  of  large  volume,  the  tone  is  of  low  intensity  and  has  small 
carrying  power. 

For  ease  in  handling,  the  ipu  is  provided  about  its  waist  with  a 
loop  of  cord  or  tapa,  by  which  device  the  performer  was  enabled  to 
manipulate  this  bulky  instrument  with  one  hand.  The  instrument 
was  sounded  by  dropping  or  striking  it  with  well-adjusted  force 
against  the  padded  earth-floor  of  the  Hawaiian  house. 

The  manner  and  style  of  performing  on  the^ipu  varied  with  the 
sentiment  of  the  mele,  a  light  and  caressing  action  when  the  feeling 
was  .sentimental  or  j^athetic,  wild  and  emphatic  when  the  subject  was 
such  as  to  stir  the  feelings  with  enthusiasm  and  passion. 

Afusicians  inform  us  tliat  tlie  drum — exception  is  made  in  the  case 
of  the  snare  and  tlie  kettle  drum — is  an  instrument  in  which  the  pitch 
is  a  matter  of  comj^arative  indifference,  its  function  being  to  mark 
the  time  and  emphasize  the  rhythm.     There  are  other  elements,  it 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN  LITERATURE   OF   HAWAII  143 

would  seem,  that  must  be  taken  into  the  account  in  estimating  the  value 
of  the  drum.  Attention  may  be  directed  first  to  its  tone-character, 
the  quality  of  its  note  which  touches  the  heart  in  its  own  peculiar 
way,  moving  it  to  enthusiasm  or  bringing  it  within  the  easy  reach 
of  awe,  fear,  and  courage.  Again,  while,  except  in  the  orchestra, 
the  drum  and  other  instruments  of  percussion  may  require  no  exact 
pitch,  still  this  does  not  necessarily  determine  their  effectiveness. 
The  very  depth  and  gravity  of  its  pitch,  made  pervasive  by  its  wealth 
of  overtones,  give  to  this  primitive  instrument  a  weird  hold  on  the 
emotions. 

This  combination  of  qualities  we  find  well  illustrated  in  the  pahu 
and  the  ipu,  the  tones  of  which  range  in  the  lower  registers  of  the 
human  voice.  The  tone-character  of  the  pu-niu,  on  the  other  hand, 
is  more  subdued,  yet  lively  and  cheerful,  by  reason  in  part  of  the 
very  sharpness  of  its  pitch,  and  thus  affords  an  agreeable  offset  to 
the  solemnity  of  the  other  two. 

Ethnologically  the  pahu  is  of  more  world-wide  interest  than  any 
other  member  of  its  class,  being  one  of  many  varieties  of  the  kettle- 
drum that  are  to  be  found  scattered  among  the  tribes  of  the  Pacific, 
all  of  them,  perhaps,  harking  back  to  Asiatic  forbears,  such  as  the 
tom-tom  of  the  Hindus. 

The  sound  of  the  pahu  carries  one  back  in  imagination  to  the 
dread  sacrificial  drum  of  the  Aztec  teocallis  and  the  wild  kettles  of 
the  Tartar  hordes.  The  drum  has  cruel  and  bloody  associations. 
When  listening  to  its  tones  one  can  hardly  put  away  a  thought  of 
the  many  times  they  have  been  used  to  drown  the  screams  of  some 
agonized  creature. 

For  more  purely  local  interest,  inventive  originality,  and  sim- 
plicity, the  round-bellied  ipu  takes  the  palm,  a  contrivance  of  strictly 
Hawaiian,  or  at  least  Polynesian,  ingenuity.  It  is  an  instrument  of 
fascinating  interest,  and  when  its  crisp  rind  puts  forth  its  volume 
of  sound  one  finds  his  imagination  winging  itself  back  to  the  mys- 
terious caverns  of  Hawaiian  mythology. 

The  gourd,  of  which  the  ipu  is  made,  is  a  clean  vegetable  product 
of  the  fields  and  the  garden,  the  gift  of  Lono-wahine — unrecognized 
daughter  of  mother  Ceres — and  is  free  from  all  cruel  alliances.  No 
bleating  lamb  was  sacrificed  to  furnish  parchment  for  its  drumhead. 
Its  associations  are  as  innocent  as  the  pipes  of  Pan. 

4.  The  ha-eke-eke^  though  not  drumlike  in  form,  must  be  classed 
as  an  instrument  of  percussion  from  the  manner  of  eliciting  its  note. 
It  was  a  simple  joint  of  bamboo,  open  at  one  end,  the  other  end 
being  left  closed  with  the  diaphragm  provided  by  nature.  The  tone 
is  produced  by  striking  the  closed  end  of  the  cylinder,  while  held  in 
a  vertical  position,  with  a  sharp  blow  against  some  solid,  nonresonant 
body,  such  as  the  matted  earth  floor  of  the  old  Hawaiian  house.     In 


144  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

the  author's  experiments  with  the  Icaekeeke  an  excellent  substitute 
was  found  in  a  bag  filled  with  sand  or  earth. 

In  choosing  bamboo  for  the  kaekeeke  it  is  best  to  use  a  variety 
Avhich  is  thin-walled  and  long-jointed,  like  the  indigenous  Hawaiian 
varieties,  in  preference  to  such  as  come  from  the  Orient,  all  of  which 
are  thick-walled  and  short-jointed,  and  therefore  less  resonant  than 
the  Hawaiian. 

The  performer  held  a  joint  in  each  hand,  the  two  being  of  different 
sizes  and  lengths,  thus  producing  tones  of  diverse  pitch.  By  making 
a  proper  selection  of  joints  it  would  be  possible  to  obtain  a  set  capa- 
ble of  producing  a  perfect  musical  scale.  The  tone  of  the  kaekeeke 
is  of  the  utmost  purity  and  lacks  only  sustained  force  and  carrying 
power  to  be  capable  of  the  best  effects. 

An  old  Hawaiian  once  informed  the  Avriter  that  about  the  year 
1850,  in  the  reign  of  Kamehameha  III,  he  was  present  at  a  hula 
kaekeeke  given  in  the  royal  palace  in  Honolulu.  The  instrumen- 
talists numbered  six,  each  one  of  whom  held  two  bamboo  joints. 
The  old  man  became  enthusiastic  as  he  described  the  effect  produced 
l)y  their  performance,  declaring  it  to  have  been  the  most  charming 
hula  he  ever  witnessed. 

5.  The  uli-uli  (pi.  xi)  consisted  of  a  small  gourd  of  the  size  of  one's 
two  fists,  into  which  were  introduced  shotlike  seeds,  such  as  those  of 
the  canna.  In  character  it  was  a  rattle,  a  noise-instrument  pure  and 
simple,  but  of  a  tone  by  no  means  disagreeable  to  the  ear,  even  as 
the  note  produced  by*a  woodpecker  drumming  on  a  log  is  not  without 
its  pleasurable  effect  on  the  imagination. 

The  illustration  of  the  iiliuli  faithfully  pictured  by  the  artist 
reproduces  a  specimen  that  retains  the  original  simplicity  of  the 
instrument  before  the  meretricious  taste  of  modern  times  tricked 
it  out  with  silks  and  feathers.  (For  a  further  description  of  this 
instrument,  see  p.  107.) 

6.  The  pa-ili  was  also  a  variety  of  the  rattle,  made  by  splitting  a 
long  joint  of  bamboo  for  half  its  length  into  slivers,  every  alternate 
sliver  being  removed  to  give  the  remaining  ones  greater  freedom  and 
to  make  their  play  the  one  upon  the  other  more  lively»  The  tone  is  a 
murmurous  breezy  rustle  that  resembles  the  notes  of  twigs,  leaves, 
or  reeds  struck  against  one  another  by  the  Avind — not  at  all  an  un- 
worthy imitation  of  nature-tones  familiar  to  the  Hawaiian  ear. 

The  performers  sat  in  two  rows  facing  each -other,  a  position  that 
favored  mutual  action,  in  which  each  row  of  actors  struck  their  in- 
struments against  those  of  the  other  side,  or  tossed  them  back  and 
forth.  (For  further  account  of  the  manner  in  which  the  puili  was 
used  in  the  hula  of  the  same  name,  see  p.  113.) 

7.  The  laau  was  one  of  the  noise-instruments  used  in  the  hula.  It 
consisted  of  two  sticks  of  hard  resonant  wood,  the  smaller  of  which 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN    LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  145 

was  Struck  against  the  larger,  producing  a  clear  x3'lophonic  note. 
While  the  pitch  of  this  instrument  is  capable  of  exact  determination, 
it  does  not  seem  that  there  was  any  attempt  made  at  adjustment.  A 
laau  in  the  author's  collection,  when  struck,  emits  tones  the  predomi- 
nant one  of  which  is  d  (below  the  staff). 

8.  The  o7u\  or  ohe-hano-iha  (fig.  3),  is  an  instrument  of  undoubted 
antiquit3\  In  every  instance  that  has  come  under  the  author's 
observation  the  material  has  been,  as  its  name — ohe — signifies,  a 
simple  joint  of  bamboo,  with  an  embouchure  placed  about  half  an 
inch  from  the  closed  end,  thus  enabling  the  player  to  supply  the  in- 
strument with  air  from  his  right  nostril.  In  every  nose-flute  ex- 
amined there  have  been  two  holes,  one  2  or  3  inches  away  from  the 
embouchure,  the  older  about  a  third  of  the  distance  from  the  open 
end  of  the  flute. 

The  musician  with  his  left  hand  holds  the  end  of  the  pipe  squarely 
against  his  lip,  so  that  the  right  nostril  slightly  overlaps  the  edge  of 
the  embouchure.  The  breath  is  projected  into  the  embouchure  with 
modulated  force.  A  nose-flute  in  the  author's  collection  with  the 
lower  hole  open  produces  the  sound  of  fif ;  with  both  holes  unstopped 


Fig.  3. — Ohe-bano-ihu,  nose-flute. 

it  emits  the  sound  a;  and  when  both  holes  are  stopped  it  produces 
the  sound  of  cif,  a  series  of  notes  which  are  the  tonic,  mediant,  and 
dominant  of  the  chord  of  FiJt  minor. 

An  ohe  played  by  an  old  Hawaiian  named  Keaonaloa,  an  inmate 
of  the  Lunalilo  Home,  when  both  holes  vrere  stopped  sounded  f ;  with 
the  lower^hole  open  it  sounded  a,  and  when  both  holes  were  open  it 
sounded  C. 

The  music  made  by  Keaonaloa  with  his  ohe  was  curious,  but  not 
soul-filling.  We  must  bear  in  mind,  however,  that  it  was  intended 
only  as  an  accompaniment  to  a  poetical  recitation. 

Some  fifty  or  sixty  ^ears  ago  it  was  not  uncommon  to  see  bamboo 
flutes  of  native  manufacture  in  the  hands  of  Hawaiian  musicians  of 
the  younger  generation.  These  instruments  were  avowedly  imitations 
of  the  D-flute  imported  from  abroad.  The  idea  of  using  bamboo  for 
this  purpose  must  have  been  suggested  by  its  previous  use  in  the 
nose-flute. 

"  The  tonal  capacity  of  the  Hawaiian  nose-flute,"  says  Miss  Jennie 
Eisner,  "  which  has  nothing  harsh  and  strident  about  it,  embraces 
five  tones,  f  and  g  in  the  middle  register,  and  f,  g,  and  i  an 
25352— Bull.  38—09 10* 


146  BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

octave  above.  These  flutes  are  not  always  pitched  to  the  same  key, 
varying  half  a  tone  or  so."  On  inquiring  of  the  native  who  kindly 
furnished  the  following  illustrations,  he  stated  that  he  had  bored 
the  holes  of  his  ohe  without  much  measurement,  trusting  to  his  intu- 
itions and  judgment. 

I — Range  of  the  Nose-flute 


The  player  began  with  a  slow,  strongly  accented,  rhythmical  moTement, 
which  continued  to  grow  more  and  more  intricate.  Rhythmical  diminution 
continued  in  a  most  astounding  manner  until  a  frenzied  climax  was  reached; 
in  other  words,  until  the  player's  breath-capacity  was  exhausted. 

A  peculiar  effect,  as  of  several  instruments  being  used  at  the  same  time, 
was  produced  by  the  two  lower  tones  being  thrown  in  in  wild  profusion,  often 
apparently  simultaneously  with  one  of  the  upper  tones.  As  the  tempo  in  any 
one  of  these  increased,  the  rhythm  was  lost  sight  of  and  a  peculiar  syncopated 
effect  resulted." 

II — Music  from  the  Nose-flute 

Arranged  by  Jennie  Elsner 


n  ī%  f\  r\  r%  f\ 


etc. 


II. 


■I *H #-, G »-i— ^-#-H-*-#-l-y  #  I     fm-rh #-1 #1 


■l-I-^^EĒĒ^E^ 


9.  The  pif-d  was  a  whistle-like  instrument.  It  was  made  from  a 
gourd  of  the  size  of  a  lemon,  and  was  pierced  wdth  three  holes,  or 
sometimes  only  two,  one  for  the  nose,  by  which  it  was  blown,  while 

"  The  writer  is  Indebted  to  Miss  Eisner  not  only  for  the  above  comments  but  for  the 
following  score  which  she  has  cleverly  arranged  as  a  sample  of  nose-flute  music  pro- 
duced by  Keaonaloa. 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  147 

the  others  were  controlled  by  the  fingers.    This  instrument  has  been 
compared  to  the  Italian  ocarina. 

10.  The  ūi-iī'i  was  a  noise-instrument  pure  and  simple.  It  con- 
sisted of  two  pebbles  that  were  held  in  the  hand  and  smitten  together, 
after  the  manner  of  castanets,  in  time  to  the  music  of  the  voices.  (See 
p.  120.) 

11.  The  niau-kani — singing  splinter — was  a  reed-instrument  of  a 
rude  sort,  made  by  holding  a  reed  of  thin  bamboo  against  a  slit  cut 
out  in  a  larger  piece  of  bamboo.  This  was  applied  to  the  mouth, 
and  the  voice  being  projected  against  it  produced  an  effect  similar  to 
that  of  the  Jew's  harp.     (See  p.  1-32.) 

12.  Even  still  more  extemporaneous  and  rustic  than  any  of  these 
is  a  modest  contrivance  called  by  the  Hawaiians  pu-la-i.  It  is  nothing 
more  than  a  ribbon  torn  from  the  green  leaf  of  the  ti  plant,  say  three- 
quarters  of  an  inch  to  an  inch  in  width  by  5  or  6  inches  long,  and 
rolled  up  somewhat  after  the  manner  of  a  lamplighter,  so  as  to  form 
a  squat  cylinder  an  inch  or  more  in  length.  This  was  compressed 
to  flatten  it.  Placed  between  the  lips  and  blown  into  with  proper 
force,  it  emits  a  tone  of  pure  reedlike  quality,  that  varies  in  pitch, 
according  to  the  size  of  the  whistle,  from  G  in  the  middle  register  to 
a  shrill  piping  note  more  than  an  octave  above. 

The  hula  girl  who  showed  this  simple  device  offered  it  in  answer 
to  reiterated  inquiries  as  to  what  other  instruments,  besides  those  of 
more  formal  make  already  described,  the  Hawaiians  were  wont  to 
use  in  connection  with  their  informal  rustic  dances.  "  This,"  said 
she, ''  was  sometimes  used  as  an  accompaniment  to  such  informal  dan- 
cing as  was  indulged  in  outside  the  halau."  This  little  rustic  pipe, 
quickly  improvised  from  the  leaf  that  every  Hawaiian  garden 
supplies,  would  at  once  convert  any  skeptic  to  a  belief  in  the  pipes  of 
god  Pan. 

13.  The  uheke^  the  one  Hawaiian  instrument  of  its  class,  is  a  mere 
strip  of  wood  bent  into  the  shape  of  a  bow  that  its  elastic  force  may 
keep  tense  the  strings  that  are  stretched  upon  it.  These  strings,  three 
in  number,  were  originally  of  sinnet,  later  after  the  arrival  of  the 
white  man,  of  horsehair.  At  the  present  time  it  is  the  fashion  to  use 
the  ordinary  gut  designed  for  the  violin  or  the  taro-patch  guitar. 
Every  ukeke  seen  followed  closely  a  conventional  pattern,  which  ar- 
gues for  the  instrument  a  historic  age  sufficient  to  have  gathered  about 
itself  some  degree  of  traditional  reverence.  One  end  of  the  stick  is 
notched  or  provided  with  holes  to  hold  the  strings,  while  the  other  end 
is  wrought  into  a  conventional  figure  resembling  the  tail  of  a  fish  and 
serves  as  an  attacliment  about  which  to  wind  the  free  ends  of  the 
strings. 

Xo  ukeke  seen  by  the  author  was  furnished  with  pins,  pegs,  or  any 
similar  device  to  facilitate  tuning.     Nevertheless,  the  musician  does 


148  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

tune  his  iikokc',  as  the  writer  can  testify  from  his  own  observation. 
This  HaAvaiian  musician  Avas  the  one  whose  performances  on  the 
nose-flute  are  elsewhere  spoken  of.  When  asked  to  give  a  sample  of 
his  j)laying  on  the  ukeke,  he  first  gave  heed  to  his  instrument  as  if 
testing  Avhether  it  was  in  tune.  He  Avas  evidently  dissatisfied  and 
pulled  at  one  string  as  if  to  loosen  it;  then,  pressing  one  end  of  the 
boAv  against  his  lips,  he  talked  to  it  in  a  singing  tone,  at  the  same 
time  i)lucking  the  strings  Avith  a  delicate  rib  of  grass.  The  effect  was 
most  pleasing.  The  open  cavity  of  the  mouth,  acting  as  a  resonator, 
reenforced  the  sounds  and  gave  them  a  volume  and  dignity  that  Avas 
i\  rcATlation.  The  lifeless  strings  allied  themseh^es  to  a  human  A^oice 
and  became  animated  by  a  living  soul. 

With  the  assistance  of  a  musical  friend  it  Avas  found  that  the  old 
HaAvaiian  tuned  his  strings  with  approximate  correctness  to  the  tonic, 
the  third  and  the  fifth.  We  may  surmise  that  this  self-trained  musi- 
cian had  instinct iA^ely  folloAved  the  principle  or  rule  proposed  by 
Aristoxenus,  Avho  directed  a  singer  to  sing  his  most  conA^nient  note, 
and  then,  taking  this  as  a  starting  point,  to  tune  the  remainder  of  his 
strings — the  Greek  kithara,  no  doubt — in  the  usual  manner  from 
this  one. 

While  the  ukeke  Avas  used  to  accompany  the  mele  and  the  oli,  its 
chief  emploA^ment  Avas  in  serenading  and  serving  the  young  folk  in 
breathing  their  extemporized  songs  and  uttering  their  love-talk — 
holpoipo.  By  using  a  peculiar  lingo  or  secret  talk  of  their  own  in- 
vention, two  loA^ers  could  hold  private  conversation  in  public  and 
pour  their  loves  and  longings  into  each  other's  ears  without  fear  of 
detection — a  thing  most  reprehensible  in  savages.  This  display  of 
ingenuity  has  been  the  occasion  for  outpouring  many  Adals  of  Avrath 
upon  the  sinful  ukeke. 

Experiment  Avith  the  ukeke  impresses  one  Avith  the  AvonderfiU 
change  in  the  tone  of  the  instrument  that  takes  place  Avhen  its  lifeless 
strings  are  brought  into  close  relation  Avith  the  cavity  of  the  mouth. 
Let  anyone  having  normal  organs  of  speech  contract  his  lips  into  the 
shape  of  an  O,  make  his  cheeks  tense,  and  then,  Avith  the  pulp  of  his 
finger  as  a  j)lectrum,  slap  the  center  of  his  cheek  and  mark  the  tone 
that  is  produced.  Practice  Avill  soon  enable  him  to  render  a  full 
octave  with  fair  accuracy  and  to  perform  a  simple  melody  that  shall 
Ik»  recognizable  at  a  short  distance.  The  i)OAver  and  range  t\\\\s  ac- 
quired Avill,  of  course,  be  limited  by  the  skill  of  the  operator.  One 
secret  of  the  performance  lies  in  a  proper  management  of  the  tongue. 
This  function  of  tlie  mouth  to  serA'e  as  a  resonant  cavity  for  a  musical 
instrument  is  familiarly  illustrated  in  the  jcAv's-harp. 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN  LITERATURE   OF   HAWAII  149 

The  author  is  apain  indebted  to  Miss  Eisner  for  the  followino^  com- 
ments  on  the  iikeke : 

The  strings  of  this  iikeke,  the  Hawaiian  fiddle,  are  tuned  to  ē,  to  b  and  to  d. 
These  three  strings  are  struck  nearly  simultaneously,  but  the  sound  being  very 
feeble,  it  is  only  the  first  which,  receiving  the  sharp  impact  of  the  blow,  gives 
out  enough  volume  to  make  a  decided  impression. 

Ill — The  Ukeke  (as  played  by  Keaonaloa) 

Arranged  by  Jennie  Elsner 


m^^^^^m 


i—t 


-e~g 


i 


— # — 1—0 # 0 0 0 1 


■~~~1 — I  etc. 


The  early  visitors  to  these  islands,  as  a  rule,  either  held  the  music 
of  the  savages  in  contempt  or  they  were  unqualified  to  report  on  its 
character  and  to  make  record  of  it. 

We  know  that  in  ancient  times  the  voices  of  the  men  as  well  as  of 
the  women  were  heard  at  the  same  time  in  the  songs  of  the  hula.  One 
of  the  first  questions  that  naturally  arises  is,  Did  the  men  and  the 
women  sing  in  parts  or  merely  in  unison? 

It  is  highly  gratifying  to  find  clear  historical  testimony  on  this 
point  from  a  competent  authority.  The  quotation  that  follows  is 
from  the  pen  of  Capt.  James  King,  who  was  with  Capt.  James  Cook 
on  the  latter's  last  voyage,  in  which  he  discovered  the  Hawaiian 
islands  (January  18,  1778).  The  words  were  evidently  penned  after 
the  death  of  Captain  Cook,  when  the  writer  of  them,  it  is  inferred, 
must  have  succeeded  to  the  command  of  the  expedition.  The  fact 
that  Captain  King  weighs  his  words,  as  evidenced  in  the  footnote, 
and  that  he  appreciates  the  bearing  and  significance  of  his  testimony, 
added  to  the  fact  that  he  was  a  man  of  distinguished  learning,  gives 
unusual  weight  to  his  statements.  The  subject  is  one  of  so  great  in- 
terest and  importance,  that  the  whole  passage  is  here  quoted.'*  It 
adds  not  a  little  to  its  value  that  the  writer  thereof  did  not  confine 
his  remarks  to  the  music,  but  enters  into  a  general  description  of  the 
hula.    The  only  regret  is  that  he  did  not  go  still  further  into  details. 

Their  dances  have  a  much  nearer  resemblance  to  those  of  the  New  Zealanders 
than  of  the  Otaheitians  or  Friendly  Islanders.  They  are  prefaced  with  a 
slow,  solemn  song,  in  which  all  the  party  join,  moving  their  legs,  and  gently 
striking  their  breasts  in  a  manner  and  with  attitudes  that  are  perfectly  easy 
and  graceful;  and  so  far  they  are  the  same  with  the  dances  of  the  Society 
Islands.  When  this  has  lasted  about  ten  minutes,  both  the  tune  and  the  motions 
gradually  quicken,  and  end  only  by  their  inability  to  support  the  fatigue,  which 

"  Italics  used  are  those  of  the  present  author. 


150  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bill.  38 

part  of  the  performance  is  the  exact  counterpart  of  that  of  the  New  Zealanders ; 
and  (as  it  is  anionj?  them)  tlie  person  who  uses  the  most  violent  action  and 
holds  out  the  lonjrest  is  applauded  as  the  hest  dancer.  It  is  to  he  observed  that 
in  this  dance  the  women  only  took  part  and  that  the  dancing  of  the  men  is  nearly 
of  the  same  kind  with  what  we  saw  at  the  Friendly  Islands;  and  which  may, 
perhaps,  with  more  proi)riety,  he  called  the  accompaniment  of  the  songs,  with 
corresponding  and  graceful  motions  of  the  whole  body.  Yet  as  we  were  specta- 
tors of  boxing  exhibitions  of  the  same  kind  with  those  we  were  entertained  with 
at  the  Friendly  Islands,  it  is  probable  that  they  had  likewise  their  grand  cere- 
monions  dances,  in  which  numbers  of  both  sexes  assisted. 

Their  music  is  also  of  a  ruder  kind,  having  neither  flutes  nor  reeds,  nor  instru- 
ments of  any  other  sort,  that  we  saw,  exceiit  drums  of  various  sizes.  But 
their  songs,  ichich  they  sing  in  parts,  and  accompany  with  a  gentle  motion  of 
the  arms,  in  the  same  manner  as  the  Friendly  Islanders,  had  a  very  pleasing 
effect. 

To  the  above  Captain  King  adds  this  footnote : 

As  this  circumstance  of  their  singinr/  in  parts  has  been  much  doubted  by  per- 
sons eminently  skilled  in  music,  and  would  be  exceedingly  curious  if  it  was 
clearly  ascertainetl,  it  is  to  be  lamented  that  it  can  not  be  more  positively  au- 
thenticated. 

('ai)tain  Burney  and  Captain  Phillips  of  the  Marines,  who  have  both  a  toler- 
able knowledge  of  music,  have  given  it  as  their  opinion  they  did  sing  in  parts; 
that  is  to  say,  that  they  sang  together  in  different  notes,  which  formed  a  pleasing 
harmony. 

These  gentlemen  have  fully  testified  that  the  Friendly  Islanders  undoubtedly 
studied  their  performances  before  they  were  exhibited  in  public ;  that  they  had 
an  idea  of  different  notes  being  useful  in  harmony;  and  also  that  they  rehearsed 
their  compositions  in  private  and  threw  out  the  inferior  voices  before  they 
ventured  to  appear  before  those  who  were  supposed  to  be  judges  of  their  skill 
in  music. 

In  their  regular  concerts  each  man  had  a  bamboo  «  which  was  of  a  different 
length  and  gave  a  different  tone.  These  they  beat  against  the  ground,  and  each 
performer,  assisted  by  the  note  given  by  this  instrument,  repeated  the  same 
note,  accompanying  it  with  words,  by  which  means  it  was  rendered  sometimes 
short  and  sometimes  long.  In  this  manner  they  sang  in  chorus,  and  not  only 
produced  octaves  to  each  other,  according  to  their  species  of  voice,  but  fell  on 
concords  such  as  were  not  disagreeable  to  the  ear. 

Now,  to  overturn  this  fact,  by  the  reasoning  of  persons  who  did  not  hear 
these  performances,  is  rather  an  arduous  task.  And  yet  there  is  great  improba- 
bility that  any  uncivilized  people  should  by  accident  arrive  at  this  perfection 
in  the  art  of  music,  which  we  imagine  can  only  be  attained  by  dijit  of  study 
and  knowledge  of  the  system  and  the  theory  on  which  musical  composition  is 
founded.  Such  miserable  jargon  as  our  country  psalm-singers  practice,  which 
may  be  justly  deemed  the  lowest  class  of  counterpoint,  or  singing  in  several 
parts,  can  not  he  acquired  in  the  coarse  manner  in  which  it  is  iierformed  in 
the  churches  without  considerable  time  and  practice.  It  is,  therefore,  scarcely 
credible  that  a  people,  semi  barbarous,  should  naturally  arrive  at  any  perfec- 
tion in  that  art  which  it  is  nnich  doubted  whether  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  with 
al!  their  refinements  in  nuisic,  ever  attaintMl,  and  which  the  Chinese,  who  have 
been  longer  civilized  than  any  people  on  the  globe,  have  not  yet  found  out. 

"  These  Immlwos  were,  uo  doubt,  the  same  us  the  kaikvckc,  elsewhere  described.  (See 
p.  122.) 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE   OF   HAWAII  151 

If  Captain  Biirney  (who,  by  the  testimony  of  his  father,  perhaps  the  greatest 
musical  theorist  of  this  or  any  other  age,  was  able  to  have  done  it)  has  written 
down  in  Euroi)ean  notes  the  concords  that  these  people  sung,  and  if  these  con- 
cords had  been  such  as  European  ears  could  tolerate,  there  would  have  been 
no  longer  doubt  of  the  fact;  but,  as  it  is,  it  would,  in  my  opinion,  be  a  rash 
judgment  to  venture  to  affirm  that  they  did  or  did  not  understand  counterpoint ; 
and  therefore  I  fear  that  this  curious  matter  must  be  considered  as  still  remain- 
ing undecided.  (A  Voyage  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  undertaken  by  the  command  of 
His  Majesty,  for  making  discoveries  in  the  Northern  Hemisphere.  Performed 
under  the  direction  of  Captains  Cook,  Clerke,  and  Gore,  in  His  Majesty's  ships 
the  Resolution  and  Discovery,  in  the  years  1776,  1777, 1778,  and  1780,  3  volumes, 
London,  1784,  in,  2d  ed.,  142,  143,  144.) 

^^Tiile  we  can  not  but  regret  that  Captain  King  did  not  go  into  de- 
tail and  inform  us  specifically  what  were  the  concords  those  old-time 
people  "  fell  on,"  whether  their  songs  were  in  the  major  or  minor  key, 
and  many  other  points  of  information,  he  has,  nevertheless,  put 
science  under  obligations  to  him  by  his  clear  and  unmistakable  testi- 
mony to  the  fact  that  they  did  arrange  their  music  in  parts.  His 
testimony  is  decisive :  "  In  this  manner  they  sang  in  chorus,  and  not 
only  produced  octaves  to  each  other,  according  to  their  species  of 
voice,  but  fell  on  concords  such  as  were  not  disagreeable  to  the  ear." 
T\^ien  the  learned  doctor  argues  that  to  overturn  this  fact  would  be 
an  arduous  task,  we  have  to  agree  with  him — an  arduous  task  indeed. 
He  well  knew  that  one  proven  fact  can  overthrow  a  thousand  improb- 
abilities. "  A'\Tiat  man  has  done  man  can  do  "  is  a  true  saying;  but  it 
does  not  thence  follow  that  what  man  has  not  done  man  can  not  do. 

If  the  contention  Avere  that  the  Hawaiians  understood  counter- 
point as  a  science  and  a  theory,  the  author  would  unhesitatingly  ad- 
mit the  improbability  Avith  a  readiness  akin  to  that  Avith  Avhich  he 
would  admit  the  improbability  that  the  Avild  Australian  understood 
the  theory  of  the  boomerang.  But  that  a  musical  people,  accustomed 
to  pitch  their  A^oices  to  the  clear  and  unmistakable  notes  of  bamboo 
pipes  cut  to  A^arious  lengths,  a  people  whose  posterity  one  generation 
later  appropriated  the  diatonic  scale  as  their  oaa^u  AA^th  the  greatest 
aAddity  and  readiness,  that  this  people  should  recognize  the  natural 
harmonies  of  sound,  when  they  had  chanced  upon  them,  and  should 
imitate  them  in  their  songs — the  improbability  of  this  the  author 
fails  to  see. 

The  clear  and  explicit  statement  of  Captain  King  leaves  little  to 
be  desired  so  far  as  this  sort  of  evidence  can  go.  There  are,  Iioaa^- 
ever,  other  lines  of  inquiry  that  must  be  developed : 

1.  The  testimony  of  the  HaAA^aiians  themselves  on  this  matter. 
This  is  vague.  No  one  of  Avhom  inquiry  has  been  made  is  able  to 
affirm  positi\^ely  the  existence  of  part-singing  in  the  olden  times. 
Most  of  those  with  whom  the  Avriter  has  talked  are  inclined  to  the 
view  that  the  ancient  cantillation  was  not  in  any  sense  part-singing 
as  noAA^  practised.     One  must  not,  hoAvever,  rely  too  much  on  such 


15-4  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

Here,  again,  is  a  piece  of  son":  that  to  the  author's  ear  bears  much 
the  same  resembhmce  to  the  original  that  an  oiled  ocean  in  calm 
would  bear  to  the  same  ocean  when  stirred  by  a  breeze.  The  fine 
dimples  which  gave  the  ocean  its  diamond-fiash  have  been  wiped  out. 

VI— Song  for  the  Hula  Pele 

Arranged  by  H.  Berger 
i ,  Pret^to — Ko'  i-honu  a 


Is  it  our  ear  that  is  at  fault  ?  Is  it  not  rather  our  science  of  musical 
notation,  in  not  reproducing  the  fractions  of  steps,  the  enharmonics 
that  are  native  to  the  note-carving  ear  of  the  Chinaman,  and  that 
are  perhaps  essential  to  the  perfect  scoring  of  an  oli  or  mele  as  sung 
by  a  Hawaiian  ? 

None  of  the  illustrations  thus  far  given  have  caught  that  fluctu- 
ating trilling  movement  of  the  voice  which  most  musicians  inter- 
viewed on  the  subject  'declare  to  be  impossible  of  representation,  while 
some  flout  the  assertion  that  it  represents  a  change  of  pitch.  One  is 
reminded  by  this  of  a  remark  made  by  Pietro  Mascagni :  "^ 

The  feeling  that  a  people  displays  in  its  character,  its  habits,  its  nature, 
and  thus  creates  an  overprivileged  type  of  music,  may  be  apprehended  by  a 
foreign  spirit  which  has  become  accustomed  to  the  usages  and  exi)ressions 
common  from  that  i)articular  people.  But  popular  nnisic.  [being]  void  of  any 
scientific  basis,  will  always  remain  incomprehensible  to  the  foreigner  who  seeks 
to  study  it  technically. 

^Mien  we  consider  that  the  Chinese  find  pleasure  in  musical  per- 
formances on  instruments  that  divide  the  scale  into  intervals  less 
than  half  a  step,  and  that  the  Arabian  musical  scale  included  quarter- 
steps,  we  shall  be  obliged  to  admit  that  this  statement  of  Mascagni 
is  not  merely  a  fling  at  our  nnisical  science. 

Here  are  introduced  the  words  and  notes  of^a  musical  recitation 
done  after  the  manner  of  the  huhi  by  a  Hawaiian  professional  and 
his  wife.  Accjuaintance  witli  the  Hawaiian  hmguage  and  a  feeling 
for  the  allusions  connoted  in  the  text  of  the  song  would,  of  course, 
be  a  great  aid  in  enabling  one  to  enter  into  the  spirit  of  the  per- 
formance.    As  these  adjuncts  will  be  available  to  only  a  very  few 

"  Thp  P^vohition  of  Music  from  the  Italian  Standpoint,  in  the  Century  Library  of  Music, 
XVI,  521. 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE   OF   HAWAII  155 

of  those  who  will  read  these  words,  in  the  beginning  are  given  the 
words  of  the  oli  with  which  he  prefaced  the  song,  with  a  translation 
of  the  same,  and  then  the  mele  which  formed  the  bulk  of  the  song, 
also  with  a  translation,  together  with  such  notes  and  comments  as 
are  necessary  to  bring  one  into  intellectual  and  sympathetic  relation 
with  the  performance,  so  far  as  that  is  possible  under  the  circum- 
stances. It  is  especially  necessary  to  familiarize  the  imagination 
with  the  language,  meaning,  and  atmosphere  of  a  mele,  because  the 
Hawaiian  approached  song  from  the  side  of  the  poet  and  elocution- 
ist. Further  discussion  of  this  point  must,  however,  be  deferred  to 
another  division  of  the  subject : 

He  on 

Halau "   Hanalei   i   ka  nini  a   ka   ua ; 
Kumano  ^  ke  po'o-wai  a  ka  liko  ;<^ 
Nalia  ka  opi-wai  ^  a  Wai-aloha ; 
O  ke  kahi  koe  a  hiki  i  Wai-oli.^ 
Ua  ike  'a. 

[Translation] 

A    Song 

Hana]ei  is  a  hall  for  the  dance  in  the  pouring  rain ; 
The  stream-head  is  turned  from  its  bed  of  fresh  green; 
Broken  the  dam  that  pent  the  water  of  love — 
Naught  now  to  hinder  its  rush  to  the  vale  of  delight. 
You've  seen  it. 

The  mele  to  which  the  above  oli  was  a  prelude  is  as  follows : 

lleīe 

Noluna  ka  hale  kai,  e  ka  ma'a-lewa, 
Nana  ka  maka  ia  Moana-nui-ka-Lehua. 
Noi  au  i  ke  kai  e  mali'o. 
Ane  ku  a'e  la  he  lehtia  ilaila — 
5         Hopoe  Lehtia  ki'eki'e. 

Maka'u  ka  Lehua  i  ke  kanaka, 
Lilo  ilalo  e  hele  ai,  ilalo,  e. 
Keaau  iliili  nehe;  olelo  ke  kai  o  Puna 
I  ka  ulu  hala  la,  e,  kaiko'o  Puna. 
10        la  hoone'ene'e  ia  pili  mai  kaua, 

'^  Halau.  The  rainy  valley  of  Hanalei,  on  Kauai,  is  here  compared  to  a  halau,  a 
dance-hall,  apparently  because  the  rain-columns  seem  to  draw  together  and  inclose  the 
valley  within  walls,  while  the  dark  foreshortened  vault  of  heaven  covers  it  as  with  a  roof. 

''Kumano.  A  water-source,  or,  as  here,  perhaps,  a  sort  of  dam  or  loose  stone  wall 
that  was  run  out  into  a  stream  for  the  purpose  of  diverting  a  portion  of  it  into  a  new 
channel. 

"^  Liko.  A  bud  ;  fresh  verdure  ;  a  word  much  used  in  modern  Hawaiian  poetry. 

•*  Opiicai.  A  watershed.  In  Hawaii  a  knife-edged  ridge  as  narrow  as  the  back  of  a 
horse  will  often  decide  the  course  of  a  stream,  turning  its  direction  from  one  to  the 
other  side  of  the  island. 

<  Waioli  (icai,  water;  oīi,  joyful j.  The  name  given  to  a  part  of  the  valley  of  Hanalei, 
also  the  name  of  a  river. 


156 


BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY 

E  ke  boa,  ke  wuiho  e  inai  la  oe; 
Eia  ka  mea  ino,  be  auu,  e. 
Aobe  ami  e! 

Me  be  mea  la  iwalio  kaiia,  e  ke  boa, 
in        Me  be  wai  la  ko  kaiia  ili,  e. 

VII— Oli  and  Mele  from  the  Hula  Ala'a-papa 

Oli — A  prelude 


[bull.  38 


Arranged  by  Mrs.  Yarndley 


e; 


-0 — » 


q=qi=4: 


-» — ^- 


:q=i 


~* — 9—9—9 9-  -gi w w 


-^-1 


Ila  -  /««      Ila  -  Dii  -  /ei        i        kii        ni  -  ni 


ka      M    -    a;     A'u    -  ma  -   no     (i)        ke 


■^=^- 


1=^=1: 


!=:l=^=:4==|=:1: 


py    -    o-  wai   a- (a-a)  ka      //- ko;    Na    ha    \.^    6  -  pi  -  ivai      o      Wdi     -     a  -    /^ -lia    (e). 


-w — y:i- 


-9 — sr 


-TSf g)- 


O      ke     ^a  -  lie      ko  •  e        a       hi  -  ki         i     Wai  -    6  -   li.     Ua      I  -    ke 
Mele  no  ka  Hula  Ala'a-papa 


(e). 


:i£ĒLi-_Ē^:^~ 

-1 

=1—1 — ^ 
^ — *    ^ 

A'^  -    /«  -  na      ka      lia  -  le      kc 


ka    ;««'  -  a  -    le  -  wa,    Na    -    ua     X-a      nia  -  ka 
{Anticip. ) 


— yg* — ;g^H*-y — » — ^ — ^ 


9---^:zrTilzi^^^—^ 


-^IZTJEZZ 


ia        Mo   -    ii  -  na  -  nii'-  i  -  Avz  -    Le  -  liu  -  a.        No 
tremolo......,^^^,^,..^^ 


?        ke      kai  (/a)        e      nia  - 
tremolo. 


iS: 


:2z  zs=liszlzit:  Jz=:li^^izzz^Ji«=:zitir.stt*==iTizjt^ 


li'-(  -  i     -      1)   -    o.  u4  -  no      ku 

( j.VeM?  breath. ) 


la      /i!£^       lo    -    hu  -    a      i    -     la  -  i 


l^lt^j 


IZZl-g^ ^-T— ^ 


Ltzi*=2^z: 


1)    .    la, 


•.|^=— : 


-* — g* ^— <^- 


-     i     -      i    -     i,)  No    -    /o     -    e        Le  -  //«    -   a- 

{ Anticip.) 

-^ 1* ^—  ^-FW ^ ^-— g-l-^ a^— ^— s^l 


>t/  -   e   -  kl  -  ^.        ^l/a    -     ka'u      ke     .ka  -    n4      -'     >{ra       i        ka        le  -  Aw  -  a,    (be)    LI  - 


t^=='i==3=:£īīi33=zi-.i:iE^|ī*i=£^ 


/((?       i    -    14   -  Jo      e      lie 


-  (-«-^^  '•^^^O, 


(-a)  - 


» — 9 — p- 


-     ^'».  ^    -     (  -  t-  <•-).      A'jJ-a-rt/i        /  -    li    -    5  -  -  //       lie  -lie;     o  -  (y)   -  le  -  lo,    kc 


4 I \—:z 


^  t 


z^g=r'^— g^|— /g-|,-g^ 


(r)     kai         o  -  (.. ;  Pu  -  na         I        ka      m     -      lu         lid     -    /a  /a,         e    ^^  ^""^t'), 


EMEKSON] 


UNWRITTEN    LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII 

^.,r^^^^^-^^^^^^.--^(  ^     times  r. ) 


157 


-EE -^ _ — __LriI5IZ-l_ 


»-T— #— »T— ^ 


-o» # 9^-9-^ « #- 

/i'rtz'  -  ku'  -o        ru--(ii-u)-  na.       {e   -    e  -  e   -    e).     la        ho'    -  o  -  nf     -  e  -  Le'    -  c 


^ 


-9 9-^ 

ia  \\   -    li      mai       ka     -        ua,  (la  -    a),  £        ke       ho    -  a,     ke        vai     -     ho 


{Aniicip) 


— ■ ■— I- 


~*      9      9- 


^fct=ī 


H ^- 


ir — 9 9- 


in;i/        la       6    -  e;      ^        -     ia         (if)    ka      me  -   a 


no,      he      a  -    nu,       c  - 


ty     — ?y-hgH-gH^       J— ^  I   ^    -g^l-g^K^-rs'  ^— »+i;?-T— »-|-zy-v— ^fe^l 

-  ^  ^"^  ^  ^"^^  e.')       A    -    o  -\v&        a  "'^(  a  ^^  a  ^^^  &)  -  nu,      e     (-0-    e-    e    -    e-e.)! 


a)  -   nu,      e     (-0-    e-    e    - 
{Anticip) 


-.smi^z 


/l/if  he  tKe-  A      la        i  -  wa  -  ho       ka 


«a, 


e       ke    ho  -  a,    iT/g'    /2<r     v  a  -  i     la       X-,?      ka 


^^ 


^iPĒlĒlii 


^l 


«a  i  -   ( /    ■    z     -     z     -     -     ^ -  )  -  li,  (  e 


[Translation] 


-    e  -  e    -    e    -    e). 


Song  from  the  Hula  Ala'apapa 

From  mountain-retreat  and  root-woven  ladder 

Mine  eye  looli:s  down  on  goddess  ^NIoana-Leliūa. 

Tlien  I  pray  to  tlie  Sea,  be  tlioii  calm; 

Would  there  might  stand  on  thy  shore  a  lehtia — 
5        Lehua  tree  tall  of  Hopoe. 

The  Lehtia  is  fearful  of  man, 

Leaves  him  to  walk  on  the  ground  below. 

To  walk  on  the  ground  far  below. 

The  pebbles  at  Keaau  grind  in  the  surf ; 
10        The  sea  at  Keaau  shouts  to  Puna's  palms, 

"  Fierce  is  the  sea  of  Puna." 

Move  hither,  snug  close,  companion  mine; 

You  lie  so  aloof  over  there. 

Oh  what  a  bad  fellow  is  Cold  I 
15        Not  cold,  do  you  say? 

It's  as  if  we  were  out  in  the  wold, 

Our  bodies  so  clammy  and  chill,  friend. 

Explanatory  Remarks 

The  acute  or  stress  accent  is  placed  over  syllables  that  take  the  ac- 
cent in  ordinary  speech. 
A  word  or  syllable  italicized  indicates  drum-down-beat. 


158  BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

It  will  1)0  noticed  that  the  stress-accent  and  the  rh3^thmic  accent, 
marked  by  the  down-beat,  very  frequently  do  not  coincide.  The  time 
marked  by  the  driim-down-beat  was  strictly  accurate  throughout. 

The  tune  was  often  pitched  on  some  other  key  than  that  in  which 
it  is  here  recorded.  This  fact  was  noted  when,  from  time  to  time, 
it  was  found  necessary  to  have  the  singer  repeat  certain  passages. 

The  number  of  measures  devoted  to  the  ^'^,  or  fluctuation,  which  is 
indicated  by  the  wavering  line^^^^^^-^  ,  varied  from  time  to  time, 
even  when  the  singer  repeated  the  same  passage.  (See  remarks  on 
the  r/,  p.  140.) 

Redundancies  of  speech  (interpolations)  which  are  in  disagreement 
with  the  present  writer's  text  (pp.  155-156)  are  inclosed  in  brackets. 
It  will  be  seen  that  in  the  fifth  verse  he  gives  the  version  MahxCu  he 
kanaka  i  ka  lehua  instead  of  the  one  given  by  the  author,  w^iich  is 
J/aka\i  ka  Lehua  i  ke  kanaka.  Each  version  has  its  advocates,  and 
good  arguments  are  made  in  favor  of  each. 

On  reaching  the  end  of  a  measure  that  coincided  with  the  close  of 
a  rhetorical  phrase  the  singer,  Kualii,  made  haste  to  snatch,  as  it 
were,  at  the  first  word  or  syllable  of  the  succeeding  phrase.  This  is 
indicated  by  the  word  "  anticipating,"  or  "  anticipatory  " — written 
anticip. — placed  over  the  sjdlable  or  word  thus  snatched. 

It  was  somewhat  puzzling  to  determine  whether  the  tones  which 
this  man  sang  were  related  to  each  other  as  five  and  three  of  the  major 
key,  or  as  three  and  one  of  the  minor  key.  Continued  and  strained 
attention  finally  made  it  seem  evident  that  it  was  the  major  ke}^  w^hich 
he  intended,  i.  e.,  it  was  f  and  d  in  the  key  of  B^,  rather  than  f  and  d 
in  the  key  of  D  minor. 

Elocution  and  Rhythmic  Accent  in  Hawaiian  Song 

In  their  ordinary  speech  the  Hawaiians  were  good  elocutionists — 
none  better.  Did  they  adhere  to  this  same  system  of  accentuation  in 
their  poetry,  or  did  they  punctuate  their  phrases  and  words  according 
to  the  notions  of  the  song-maker  and  the  conceived  exigencies  of 
poetical  composition?  After  hearing  and  stud^dng  this  recitation  of 
Kualii  the  author  is  compelled  to  say  that  he  does  depart  in  a  great 
measure  from  the  accent  of  common  speech  and  charge  his  words 
with  intonations  and  stresses  peculiar  to  the  mele.  What  artificial 
influence  has  come  in  to  produce  this  result?  Ls  it  from  some  de- 
mand of  ]X)etic  or  of  musical  rhythm?  Which?  It  was  observed 
that  he  substituted  the  soft  sound  of  t  for  the  stronger  sound  of  k^ 
'*  because,"  as  he  explained,  "  the  sound  of  the  t  is  lighter."  Thus  he 
said  te  tanata  instead  of  ke  kanaka,  the  num.  The  Hawaiian  ear 
has  always  a  delicate  feeling  for  tone-color, 


EMEBSON]  UNWRITTEN    LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  159 

In  all  our  discussions  and  conclusions  we  must  bear  in  mind  that 
the  Hawaiian  did  not  approach  song  merely  for  its  own  sake;  the 
song  did  not  sing  of  itself.  First  in  order  came  the  poem,  then  the 
rhythm  of  song  keeping  time  to  the  rhythm  of  the  poetry.  The  Ha- 
waiian sang  not  from  a  mere  bubbling  up  of  indefinable  emotion,  but 
because  he  had  something  to  say  for  which  he  could  find  no  other 
adequate  form  of  expression.  The  Hawaiian  boy,  as  he  walks  the 
woods,  never  whistles  to  keep  his  courage  up.  When  he  paces  the 
dim  aisles  of  Kaliuwa'a,  he  sets  up  an  altar  and  heaps  on  it  a  sacrifice 
of  fruit  and  flowers  and  green  leaves,  but  he  keeps  as  silent  as  a 
mouse. 

During  his  performance  Kualii  cantillated  his  song  while  han- 
dling a  round  wooden  tray  in  place  of  a  drum ;  his  wife  meanwhile 
performed  the  dance.  This  she  did  very  gracefully  and  in  perfect 
time.  In  marking  the  accent  the  left  foot  was,  if  anything,  the 
favorite,  yet  each  foot  in  general  took  two  measures ;  that  is,  the  left 
marked  the  down-beat  in  measures  1  and  2,  5  and  6,  and  so  on, 
while  the  right,  in  turn,  marked  the  rhythmic  accent  that  comes  with 
the  down-beat  in  measures  3  and  4,  7  and  8,  and  so  on.  During  the 
four  steps  taken  by  the  left  foot,  covering  the  time  of  two  measures, 
the  body  was  gracefully  poised  on  the  other  foot.  Then  a  shift  was 
made,  the  position  was  reversed,  and  during  two  measures  the  em- 
phasis came  on  the  right  foot. 

The  motions  of  the  hands,  arms,  and  of  the  whole  body,  including 
the  pelvis — which  has  its  own  peculiar  orbital  and  sidelong  swing — 
were  in  perfect  sympathy  one  part  with  another.  The  movements 
were  so  fascinating  that  one  was  at  first  almost  hypnotized  and  dis- 
qualified for  criticism  and  analytic  judgment.  Xot  to  derogate 
from  the  propriety  and  modesty  of  the  woman's  motions,  under  the 
influence  of  her  Delsartian  grace  one  gained  new  appreciation  of 
"  the  charm  of  woven  paces  and  of  waving  hands." 

Throughout  the  whole  performance  of  Kualii  and  his  wife  Abi- 
gaila  it  was  noticed  that,  while  he  was  the  reciter,  she  took  the  part 
of  the  olapa  (see  p.  28)  and  performed  the  dance:  but  to  this  role  she 
added  that  of  prompter,  repeating  to  him  in  advance  the  words  of 
the  next  verse,  which  he  then  took  up.  Her  verbal  memory,  it  was 
evident,  was  superior  to  his. 

Experience  with  Kualii  and  his  partner,  as  well  as  with  others, 
emphasizes  the  fact  that  one  of  the  great  difficulties  encountered  in 
the  attempt  to  write  out  the  slender  thread  of  music  (leo)  of  a  Ha- 
waiian mele  and  fit  to  it  the  words  as  uttered  by  the  singer  arises 
from  the  constant  interweaving  of  meaningless  vowel  sounds.  This, 
which  the  Hawaiians  call  ^V,  is  a  phenomenon  comparable  to  the 
weaving  of  a  vine  about  a  framework,  or  to  the  pen-flourishes  that 


160  BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

illuminate  old  German  text.  It  consists  of  the  repetition  of  a  vowel 
sound — generally  i  {=ee)  or  e  (=«,  as  in  fate),  or  a  rapid  interchange 
of  these  two.  To  the  ear  of  the  author  the  pitch  varies  through  an 
interval  somewhat  less  than  a  half-step.  Exactly  what  is  the  inter- 
val he  can  not  say.  The  musicians  to  whom  appeal  for  aid  in  de- 
termining this  point  has  been  made  have  either  dismissed  it  for  the 
most  pnvt  as  a  matter  of  little  or  no  consequence  or  have  claimed  the 
seeming  variation  in  pitch  was  due  simply  to  a  changeful  stress  of 
voice  or  of  accent.  But  the  author  can  not  admit  that  the  report  of 
his  senses  is  here  mistaken. 

A  further  embarrassment  comes  from  the  fact  that  this  tone- 
embroidery  found  in  the  i'i  is  not  a  fixed  quantity.  It  varies  seem- 
ingly with  the  mood  of  the  singer,  so  that  not  unfrequently,  when  one 
asks  for  the  repetition  of  a  phrase,  it  will,  quite  likely,  be  given  with 
a  somewhat  diiferent  wording,  calling  for  a  readjustment  of  the 
rhythm  on  the  part  of  the  musician  who  is  recording  the  score.  But 
it  must  be  acknowledged  that  the  singer  sticks  to  his  rhythm,  which, 
so  far  as  observed,  is  in  common  time. 

In  justice  to  the  Hawaiian  singer  who  performs  the  accommodating 
task  just  mentioned  it  must  be  said  that,  under  the  circumstances  in 
which  he  is  placed,  it  is  no  wonder  that  at  times  he  departs  from 
the  prearranged  formula  of  song.  His  is  the  difficult  task  of  pitch- 
ing his  voice  and  maintaining  the  same  rhythm  and  tempo  unaided 
by  instrumental  accompaniment  or  the  stimulating  movements  of 
the  dance.  Let  any  'stage-singer  make  the  attempt  to  perform  an 
aria,  or  even  a  simple  recitative,  off  the  stage,  and  without  the  sup- 
port— real  or  imaginary — afforded  by  the  wonted  orchestral  accom- 
paniment as  well  as  the  customary  stage-surroundings,  and  he  will 
be  apt  to  find  himself  embarrassed.  The  very  fact  of  being  com- 
pelled to  repeat  is  of  itself  alone  enough  to  disconcert  almost  anyone. 
The  men  and  women  who  to-day  attempt  the  forlorn  task  of  repro- 
ducing for  us  a  hula  mele  or  an  oli  under  what  are  to  them  entirely 
unsympathetic  and  novel  surroundings  are,  as  a  rule,  past  the  prime 
of  life,  and  not  unfrequently  acknowledge  themselves  to  be  failing 
in  memory. 

After  making  all  of  these  allowances  we  must,  it  would  seem,  make 
still  another  allowance,  which  regards  the  intrinsic  nature  and  pur- 
pose of  Hawaiian  song.  It  was  not  intended,  nor  was  it  possible 
under  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  that  a  Hawaiian  song  should  be 
sung  to  an  unvarying  tempo  or  to  the  same  key;  and  even  in  the 
words  or  sounds  that  make  up  its  fringcAvork  a  certain  range  of  indi- 
vidual choice  was  allowed  or  even  expected  of  the  singer.  This  privi- 
lege of  exercising  individuality  might  even  extend  to  the  solid  frame- 
work of  the  mele  or  oli  and  not  merely  to  the  filigree,  the  i'i,  that 
enwrcathed  it. 


BMBtfisoN]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE   OP'    HAWAII  161 

It  would  follow  from  this,  if  the  author  is  correct,  that  the  musical 
critic  of  to-day  must  be  content  to  generalize  somewhat  and  must 
not  be  put  out  if  the  key  is  changed  on  repetition  and  if  tempo  and 
rhythm  depart  at  times  from  their  standard  gait.  It  is  questionable 
if  even  the  experts  in  the  palmy  days  of  the  hula  attained  such  a 
degree  of  skill  as  to  be  faultless  and  logical  in  these  matters. 

It  has  been  said  that  modern  music  has  molded  and  developed  it- 
self under  the  influence  of  three  causes,  (1)  a  comprehension  of  the 
nature  of  music  itself,  (2)  a  feeling  or  inspiration,  and  (3)  the  in- 
fluence of  poetry.  Guided  by  this  generalization,  it  may  be  said  that 
Hawaiian  poetry  was  the,  nurse  and  pedagogue  of  that  stammering 
infant,  Hawaiian  music ;  that  the  words  of  the  mele  came  before  its 
rhythmic  utterance  in  song;  and  that  the  first  singers  were  the  priests 
and  the  eulogists.  Hawaiian  poetry  is  far  ahead  of  Hawaiian  song 
in  the  power  to  move  the  feelings.  A  few  words  suffice  the  poet  with 
Avhich  to  set  the  picture  before  one's  eyes,  and  one  picture  quickly 
follows  another;  whereas  the  musical  attachment  remains  Aveak  and 
colorless,  reminding  one  of  the  nursery  pictures,  in  which  a  few  skele- 
tal lines  represent  the  human  frame. 

Let  us  now  for  refreshment  and  in  continued  pursuit  of  our  subject 
listen  to  a  song  in  the  language  and  spirit  of  old-time  Hawaii,  com- 
posed, however,  in  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century.  It  is  given 
as  arranged  by  Miss  Lillian  Byington,  who  took  it  down  as  she  heard 
it  sung  by  an  old  Hawaiian  woman  in  the  train  of  Queen  Liliuoka- 
lani,  and  as  the  author  has  since  heard  it  sung  by  Miss  Byington's 
pupils  of  the  Kamehameha  School  for  Girls.  The  song  has  been 
slightly  idealized,  perhaps,  by  trimming  away  some  of  the  super- 
fluous i'i,  but  not  more  than  is  necessary  to  make  it  highly  acceptable 
to  our  ears  and  not  so  much  as  to  take  from  it  the  plaintive  bewitch- 
ing tone  that  pervades  the  folk-music  of  Hawaii.  The  song,  the  mele, 
is  not  in  itself  much — a  hint,  a  sketch,  a  sweep  of  the  brush,  a  lilt  of 
the  imagination,  a  connotation  of  multiple  images  which  no  jugglery 
of  literary  art  can  transfer  into  any  foreign  speech.  Its  charm,  like 
that  of  all  folk-songs  and  of  all  romance,  lies  in  its  mysterious  tug 
at  the  heartstrings. 

25352— Bull.  38—09^ 11 


162 


BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY 


[BILL.  38 


VIII — He  Inoa  no  Kamehameha 

(Old  Mele— Kindness  of  11.  K.  II.  Liliuokalani) 

Arranged  by  Lillian  Byinoton 
Hoaeae — Andante  ^-. 


H^EE^^I 


na, 
li. 


.'3 — ^ — I— ^ 0 — 0 — 0 — I — I 1 — 0 — I — ^-0 — g-#  ^  I — 0 0—t\ 


1.  P:iO      -       l>tlO 

2.  I'll     -      i    -    li 

'S.  H  .-o     -     la  -    iiu 


pu 


1    -    a 
i        ka 
o       ka 


)  Li 

u-a  n 

t-lo    -    we 


mmmi 


Ah-=k: 


K:ii-a 


W  a 


o    -    lo    -    ft  -   wa,        e-e-e-e-e-e. 


He  Inoa  no  Kamehameha 

Aia  i  Waipi'o  "  Paka'alana,^ 

Paepae  ^  kapii  ia  o  Liloa.<^ 

He  aloha  ka  wahine  pi'l  ka  pali,^ 

Puili  ana  i  ka  hiia  iilei, 

I  ka  al  mo'a  i  ka  lau  laaii.^ 

Hoolaan  s  mai  o  ka  welowelo. 

Ua  pe'e  pa  Kai-a-uhi  o  AVaimea,* 

Ua  ola  i  kii'ii  kai,'  Keoloewa,^'  e. 


»  'Waipi'o.  A  deep  valley  on  the  windward  side  of  Hawaii. 

^  Paka'olann.   A  temple  and  tlie  residence  of  King  Liloa  in  Waipi'o. 

^  Pacpae.  The  doorsill  (of  this  temple),  always  an  object  of  superstitious  regard,  but 
especially  so  in  the  case  of  thi.^  temple.      Here  it  stands  for  the  whole  temple. 

**  I. Hon.  A  famous  king  of  Hawaii  who  had  his  seat  in  Waipi'o. 

<•  W-ahiiic  pii  ka  pali.  Ilaina-kolo,  a  mythical  character,  is  probably  the  one  alluded  to. 
She  married  a  king  of  Kukulu  o  Kahiki.  and.  being  deserted  by  him.  swam  back  to  Hawaii. 
Arrived  at  Waipi'o  in  a  famishing  state,  she  climbed  the  heights  and  ate  of  the  tilei  berries 
without  first  propitiating  the  local  deity  with  a  sacrifice.  As  an  infliction  of  the  offended 
deity,  she  became  distraught  and  wandered  away  into  the  wilderness.  Her  husband  re- 
pented of  his  neirlect  and  after  long  search  found  her.  Under  kind  treatment  she  regained 
her  reason  and  the  family  was  happily  reunited. 

f  Lau  Uiau.   Leaves  of  plants. 

"  HooJaau.  The  last  part  of  this  word,  hiati,  taken  in  connection  with  the  last  word  of 
the  previous  verse,  form  a  capital  instance  of  word  repetition.  This  was  an  artifice  much 
i;se(l  in  Hawaiian  poetry,  both  as  a  means  of  imparting  tone-color  and  for  the  punning  wit 
it  was  suppose»!  to  exhibit. 

*  Ua  pf'e  pa  Kai-a-ulu  o  Mainira.  Kai-a-ulit  is  a  fierce  rain-squall  such  as  arises  suddenly 
in  the  uplands  of  Waimea.  Hawaii.  The  traveler,  to  protect  himself,  crouches  ipe'c)  be- 
hijid  a  hummock  of  grass,  or  builds  up  in  all  haste  a  barricade  (pa)  of  light  stuff  as  a 
partial  shelter  against  the  oncoming  storm. 

*  Kai.  Taken  in  connection  with  Kai-n-ulu  in  the  preceding  verse,  this  is  another  in- 
stance of  verse  repetition.  This  word,  the  primary  meaning  of  which  is  sea,  or  ocean,  is 
u.sod  figuratively  to  represent  a  source  of  comfort  or  life. 

i  Kroliti  ufi.  The  name  .if  one  of  the  old  gods  l)elonging  to  the  class  called  akua  noho,  a 
class  of  deities  that  were  sent  by  the  necromancers  on  errands  of  demoniacal  possession. 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE   OF   HAWAII  163 

[Translation] 
A  Name-song  of  Kamehameha 

In  Waipi'o  stands  Paka'alana, 
The  sacred  shrine  of  Liloa. 
Love  to  the  woman  climbing  the  steep, 
Who  gathered  the  ulei  berries, 
5         Who  ate  of  the  uncooli;ed  herbs  of  the  wild, 
Craving  the  swaying  fruit  like  a  hungry  child. 
A  covert  I  found  from  the  storm, 
Life  in  my  sea  of  delight. 

The  text  of  this  mele — said  to  be  a  name-song  of  Kamehameha  V — 
as  first  secured  had  undergone  some  corruption  which  obscured  the 
meaning.  By  calling  to  his  aid  an  old  Hawaiian  in  whose  memory 
the  song  had  long  been  stored  the  author  was  able  to  correct  it. 
Hawaiian  authorities  are  at  variance  as  to  its  meaning.  One  party 
reads  in  it  an  exclusive  allusion  to  characters  that  have  flitted  across 
the  stage  within  the  memory  of  people  now  living,  while  another, 
taking  a  more  romantic  and  traditional  view,  finds  in  it  a  reference 
to  an  old-time  myth — that  of  Ke-anini-ula-o-ka-lani — the  chief 
character  in  which  was  Haina-kolo.  (See  note  e.)  After  carefully 
considering  both  sides  of  the  question  it  seems  to  the  author  that, 
while  the  principle  of  double  allusion,  so  common  in  Hawaiian  poetry, 
may  here  prevail,  one  is  justified  in  giving  prominence  to  the 
historico-mythological  interpretation  that  is  inwoven  in  the  poem. 
It  is  a  comforting  thought  that  adhesion  to  this  decision  will  suffer 
certain  unstaged  actions  of  crowned  heads  to  remain  in  charitable 
oblivion. 

The  music  of  this  song  is  an  admirable  and  faithful  interpretation 
of  the  old  Hawaiian  manner  of  cantillation,  having  received  at  the 
hands  of  the  foreign  musician  only  so  much  trimming  as  was  neces- 
sary to  idealize  it  and  make  it  reducible  to  our  system  of  notation. 

Explanatory  Note 

Hoaeae. — This  term  calls  for  a  quiet,  sentimental  style  of  recitation, 
in  which  the  fluctuating  trill  i'i,  if  it  occurs  at  all,  is  not  made  promi- 
nent. It  is  contrasted  with  the  olioU.  in  which  the  style  is  warmer 
and  the  fluctuations  of  the  i'i  are  carried  to  the  extreme. 

Thus  far  we  have  been  considering  the  traditional  indigenous  music 
of  the  land.  To  come  now  to  that  which  has  been  and  is  being  pro- 
duced in  Hawaii  by  Hawaiians  to-day,  under  influences  from  abroad, 
it  will  not  be  possible  to  mistake  the  presence  in  it  of  two  strains: 
The  foreign,  showing  its  hand  in  the  lopping  away  of  much  redun- 
dant foliage,  has  brought  it  largely  within  the  compass  of  scientific 
and  technical  expression;  the  native  element  reveals  itself,  now  in 


164 


BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY 


[bull.  38 


plaintive  reminiscence  and  now  in  a  riotous  honhommie^  a  rollicking 
love  of  the  sensuous,  and  in  a  style  of  delivery  and  vocal  technique 
which  demands  a  voluptuous  throatiness,  and  which  must  be  heard 
to  be  appreciated. 

The  foreign  influence  has  repressed  and  well-nigh  driven  from  the 
field  the  monotonous  fluctiiations  of  the  i'i,  has  lifted  the  starveling 
melodies  of  Hawaii  out  of  the  old  ruts  and  enriched  them  with  new 
jiott^,  thus  giving  them  a  spring  and  elan  that  appeal  alike  to  the 
cultivated  eai-  and  to  the  popular  taste  of  the  da}^  It  has,  moreover, 
tapped  the  springs  of  folk-song  that  lay  hidden  in  the  Hawaiian  na- 
ture. This  same  influence  has  also  caused  to  germinate  a  Haw^aiian 
appreciation  of  harmony  and  has  endowed  its  music  w^ith  new  chords, 
the  tonic  and  dominant,  as  well  as  with  those  of  the  subdominant  and 
various  minor  chords. 

The  persistence  of  the  Hawaiian  quality  is,  however,  most  apparent 
in  the  language  and  imagery  of  the  song-poetry.  This  will  be  seen 
in  the  text  of  the  various  mele  and  oli  now  to  be  given.  Every  mu- 
sician will  also  note  for  himself  the  peculiar  intervals  and  shadings 
of  these  melodies  as  well  as  the  odd  effects  produced  by  rhythmic 
syncopation. 

The  songs  must  speak  for  themselves.  The  first  song  to  be  given, 
though  dating  from  no  longer  ago  than  about  the  sixth  decade  of  the 
last  century,  has  already  scattered  its  wind-borne  seed  and  reproduced 
its  kind  in  many  variants,  after  the  manner  of  other  folklore.  This 
love-lyric  represents  artype,  very  popular  in  Hawaii,  that  has  con- 
tinued to  grow  more  and  more  personal  and  subjective  in  contrast 
with  the  objective  epic  style  of  the  earliest  Hawaiian  mele. 


Andante  cantabile 


IX — Song,  Poli  Anuanu 

Arranged  by  Mrs.  Yarndley 


=r=:ir:z.-zz=^npq=z:z=z|=HZiz:i^— J=z-^ 
^ ^^, j_L_^._^,_l_i W-. 


-#-T- 


I  ^ 

lo     -    ha         w{ 


Po    -    li 


J^S--T=ft|=J; 


rli: 


^=i 


"-T-'-r- 


BUREAU   OF  AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY 


BULLETIN  38     PLATE  XVII 


HAWAIIAN     MUSICIAN     PLAYING    ON     THE    UKU-LELE 
(By  penaission  of  Hubert  Voss) 


KMERSON]  UNWRITTEN    LITERATURE   OF    HAWAII  165 

PoH  Anuanu 

1.  Aloha  wale  oe, 
Poli  anuanu ; 
Maeele  au 

I  ke  auu,  e. 

2.  He  anu  e  ka  ua, 
He  anu  e  ka  wai, 
Li'a  kuu  ili 

I  ke  anu,  e. 

3.  Ina  paha, 
Ooe  a  owau 
Ka  i  pu-kuku'i, 
I  ke  anu,  e. 

He  who  would  translate  this  love-lyric  for  the  ear  as  well  as  for  the 
mind  finds  himself  handicapped  by  the  limitations  of  our  English 
speech — its  scant  supply  of  those  orotund  A'owel  sounds  which  flow 
forth  with  their  full  freight  of  breath  in  such  words  as  a-l6-ha.  p6-U, 
and  (i-rni-d-nu.  These  vocables  belong  to  the  very  genius  of  the 
Hawaiian  tongue. 

[Translation] 

Cold  Breast 

1.  Love  fain  compels  to  greet  thee, 
Breast    so   cold,    so   cold. 
Chilled,  benumbed  am  I 

With  the  pinching  cold. 

2.  How  bitter  cold  the  rainfall, 
Bitter  cold  the  stream, 
Body  all  a-shiver. 

From  the  pinching  cold. 

3.  Pray,  what  think  you? 
What  if  you  and  I 
Should   our  arms  enfold, 
Just  to  keep  off  the  cold? 

The  song  next  given,  dating  from  a  period  only  a  few  years  subse- 
quent, is  of  the  same  class  and  general  character  as  Poli  Anuanu. 
Both  words  and  music  are  peculiarly  Hawaiian,  though  one  may 
easily  detect  the  foreign  influence  that  presided  over  the  shaping  of 
the  melodv. 


166 


BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY 


[BULL.  38 


ModercUo 


X — Song,  Hua-hua'i 

Arranged  by  Mrs.  Yarndley 

"^     ^    -I h-^ Nn"^^.^ : ^ K !- 


I   —  r 

Ue  a  -    lo    -    ha    wan     ia        o    -       e       I  kau  ha  -    ua,    ha  -    ua       po    -    no; 

V- 


—I N— I H-, l-^-N ^ 1 1— I |r- j- r^ K. 1 \ , 

{- •-- ^1 9 — w #-'-^ ^ — -ē — 9 — * — ^~- J-  -25i ^ -■ 


^ 


I  I 

La'  -  i    ai  k«     kau  -  nu  me 


ia        la,       Ho 


_^ m. 


ke      ki 


I  I 


lizi=»zbf=:f=r.— r-izz-lz:  =»zzzf.— fzzfL=z?r-frzz:'iE=z=ziM 

•1 -^'-1 c^ y ^ 1 i-\ y s^ i^ 5/ -^ ^-L^ f ■ 


Chorus 

n   ft      1^^ 

k.      1          1 

1 

^ 

LI  ■  ?      1      N   1 

1          N     ^      1          1 

1          .-^     N.                    1    V     V     r^:    '             1 

i^    J    hN  H*^  :^vJ  ,    i    i_«  5     5 

ff  *\            m  *   M     m 

' 

m        m     4     i        m 

\S  J            •  •  •     • 

• 

Kau -a    i 

1 

ka 

hu  -   a  -  hu  -  a'    -    i, 

E 

4    d    ^    ^    ^     4    ē    4^ 

J    li    V 

u  -  he  -  ne    la'  -  i       pi  -  li       ko'o-hi    -    a, 

S        '9      |#      p        1* 

a^  •" 

b0p##ppibp      b 

— 1 — 

— 1 1-; V~ ! \ 

-U— ^i -. — , — h-l  i ,    1 ,— — i i — 1 

■    1            i — 

— ^ ^ — s/ 1 1 

(                \/       \^       ^       "^       "^     X'l^       y     -hmm       '             ^          1 

#•-#-#—#-« #— IP — ^ 


-^ — 


p^w-f-4 


8St, 


filil 


Pu       kii-ku'  -  i     a  -    ku 


ke    ko'  -  e  -  ko' 


uu  li  -  po     o       ka    pa  -  lai. 


HuahuaH 

He  aloha  wan   ia  oe, 
I  kau  haiia.  liana  pono; 
La'l  ai  ke  kannn  me  ia  la, 
Hoapaapa    i   ke   kino. 

('horus: 
Kana  i  ka  huahua'i, 
K  nheiie  la'i  pili  koolna. 
Pn-kuku'i  akn  i  ke  koekoe, 
Ann  lipo  i  ka  palai. 


EMERSON] 


UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII 


167 


[Translation] 

Outburst 

O  my  love  goes  out  to  thee, 
For  thy  goodness  and  thy  kindness. 
Fancy   kindles  at   that  other, 
Stirs,   with   her  arts,    my  blood. 

Chorus: 
You  and  I,  then,  for  an  outburst ! 
Sing  the  joy  of  love's  encounter, 
Join  arms  against  the  invading  damp, 
Deep  chill  of  embowering  ferns. 


The  following  is  given,  not  for  its  poetical  value  and  significance, 
but  rather  as  an  example  of  a  song  which  the  trained  Hawaiian  singer 
delights  to  roll  out  with  an  unctuous  gusto  that  bids  defiance  to  all 
description : 

XI — Song,  Ka  Mawae 


By  permissioa  of  Uie  Hawaiian  News  Co.,  of  Honolulu 


Solo 


Arranged  by  H.  Berger 


— 0 0- 


1.  A 

2.  H.i 


niai 


kon 


-_ N 0 0- 


ke     ka 

pu  -      lu 


we     -    lu 
i  ka 


Pa 

nia 


pi' 
lu  .     le 


hu    -      11. 
lu     -      iia. 


Chorus 

_  0 s, ^- 

0 

0 

N— 

— ^-* — ^ — ^' 

— 0 — 

_*_^ —   _ 

:^ — ^—t^ 

L>_ 

y 

zz^ 

— • — 

K S S^ 

—0 0 0- 

br= 

ti^— 

_^^^5r. 

A 

Hu 


1...' 
mai 


ke 

k..u 


ka 


w  -  a  -    11. 


±:;:S: 


m^ 


I  ke 

U    a 

2  P/LA=Tyro  meaanres  of  an  instrumental  interlude. 


ka    ■ 

we 

. 

lu 

-ho    -   lu 

Pa 

. 

T'i 

pu 

lu 

1 

ka 

u     -    a, 

ma  ■ 

lu  - 

le 

hu  - 
lu    - 


Note. — The  music  to  which  this  hula  song  is  set  was  produced  by  a  member  of  the  Hawaiian 
Solomon  A.  Hiram,  and  arranged  by  Capt.  K.  Berger,  to  whom  the  author  is  indebted  for  permission 


Band.  Mr. 
to  use  it. 


Ka  Mawae 

A  e  ho'i  ke  aloha  i  ka  mawae, 
I  ke  Kawelu-holu,  Papi'ohuli.'* 

Huli  mai  kou  alo,  ua  anu  wau, 
Ua  pulu  i  ka  ua,  malule  o-luna. 


«  Papi'o-huli.  A  slope  in  the  western  valley-side  at  the  head  of  Nuuauu,  where  the  tall 
grass   (kauelu)   waves  (holu)   in  the  wind. 


168  BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOI^OGY  [bill.  38 

[Translation] 

The  Refuge 

Return,  O  love,  to  the  refuge, 

The  wind-tossed  covert  of  Papi'ohQli. 

Face  now  to  my  face;  I'm  smitten  with  cold, 
Soaked  with  the  rain  and  benumbed. 

XII — Like  no  a  Like 

By  permission  of  the  Hawaiian  News  Co.    (Ltd.) 

Arranged  by  H.  "Rerottr 

M  Solo 


1.  U     -   a      )i    -     ke       no        a        li  -  lie,         Me      ka       u     -      a       ka  -    ni  -    le  - 

2.  Ma  -    a  -  no    -    i         mai      ka     -      ua,  He      we  -  li    -      na  pa'a        i        ka 


hii  -  a,  Me       he      la         e  i         mai    a  -    na,  A     -       ia  i  -    lai   -    la     ke       a 

Pi  -  ko,  A      iiau    no     wan    i       i    -    mi    ma  -  i,  A     lo  -  a'a        i        ke     a-be-a-he    a 


o  Choms 


lo    -      li  a.  0    -      o    -      e  no       ka'u  i  u    -     pu        ai,  Ku'u 

ka        ma  ka  ui. 

le  -  i               lii-ki      a  -    lii  -   a     -      hi        0       ke    " 
p ^ y ^ ? j^^ ^ IJ 


hi-  ki     a  -    hi  -   a     -     hi        0       ke    ka    -     ni      a       na     ma  -  nu,        I       na 


ho     -     ra        o        ke 

Like  no  a  Like 

1.  Ua  like  no  a  like 
Me  ka  ua  kani-lehua ; 
Me  he  la  e  i  mai  ana, 
Aia  ilaila  ke  aloha. 

Chorus: 
Ooe  no  ka'u  i  upu  ai, 
Ku'u  lei  hiki  ahiahi, 

0  ke  kani  o  na  manu, 

1  na  hora  o  ke  aumoe. 

2.  Maanei  mai  kaua, 
He  welina  pa'a  i  ka  piko, 
A  nan  no  wau  i  imi  mai, 
A  loaa  i  ke  aheahe  a  ka  makaui. 

Chorus. 


EMKRSON] 


UNWRITTEN    LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII 


169 


[Translation] 
ResemMance 

1.  When  the  rain  drums  loud  on  the  leaf, 
It  makes  me  think  of  my  love : 

It  whispers  into  my  ear, 

Your  love,  your  love — she  is  near. 

CJiorus: 
Thou  art  the  end  of  my  longing. 
The  crown  of  evening's  delight. 
When  I  hear  the  cock  blithe  crowing, 
In  the  middle  watch  of  the  night. 

2.  This  way  is  the  path  for  thee  and  me, 
A  welcome  warm  at  the  end. 

I  waited  long  for  thy  coming, 
And  found  thee  in  waft  of  the  breeze. 
Chorus. 


Solo 


XIII— Song,  Pili  Aoao 

By  pennission  of  the  Hawaiian  News  Co.    (Ltd.) 

Arranged  by  H.  Berger 


EiiiSE 


_N  •_,_*- 


-0—0- 


na-  lia  1  -  ho    a    ke      a    -    o,      Ka      pi'  -  o    ma-  11  -  e     ma 


EgS 


1.  0     ka    p 

■_'.     A  iii;iu    ka    pi- li  "ua    o  -  lu      po 


Hull 


u    -    na,      I  -  ke 
he -be -no    ma    -    li    -      e;      Ha- uu 


-^— ^ 


— N- 


1 


ii-e        1       ka     lia  -  na      mi  -  ki    -    a 
11    -    1    -    li  -    li  -    i        na  -  he  -    na 


Xo  -  we  -  lo 

No  -  we  -  lo 


ka    pi 
ka    pi 


a  -  o  .  a  -  o. 
a  -  o  -  a  -  o. 


f  Chorus 


^^IJ^_A— N-4 


Mai     -    ka' 


k9 


lo  -  ha     a     ka 


\%^^m 


=t=^d 


Ha  -  na     ma- 
> 


^1 


ka    pu  -  u 


g==gēĒSggigi5ll 


Hou 


1 
ka      po    -    li,     No  -  we  -  lo 


ka    pi  -  li 


Note.— Tlie  c  miposer  of  tlin  music  and  the  anthor  of  the  niele  was  a  Hawaiian  named  John  Meha,  amember 
of  the  Hawaiian  Band,  who  died  some  ten  years  ago,  at  the  age  of  40  years. 

1.  O  ka  ponaha  iho  a  ke  ao. 
Ka  pipi'o  malie  nialuna, 
Ike  oe  i  ka  haiia  mikiala, 
Nowelo  i  ka  pili  aoao. 

Chorus: 
Maikai  ke  aloha  a  ka  ipo — 
Hana  mao  ole  i  ka  puuwai, 
Houhou  liilii  i  ka  poll — 
Nowelo  i  ka  pili  aoao. 

2.  A  man  ka  pili'na  oln  pono; 
Hull  a'e,  hooheno  malie, 
Hanu  liilii  nahenahe, 
Nowelo  i  ka  pili  aoao. 

Choruis. 


170  BUREAU    OF    AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  f  bill.  38 

The  author  of  the  mele  was  a  Hawaiian  named  John  Meha,  who 
died  some  years  ago.  He  was  for  many  years  a  member  of  the  Ha- 
waiian Band  and  set  the  words  to  the  music  given  below,  which  has 
since  been  arranged  by  Captain  Berger. 

[Translation] 
Side  hy  Side 

1.  Outspreads  now  the  dawn, 
Arching  itself  on  higli — 
But  looli  !  u  wondrous  thing, 
A  thrill  at  touch  of  the  side. 

Chorus: 
Most  dear  to  the  soul  is  a  love-touch; 
Its  pulse  stirs  ever  the  heart 
And  gently  throbs  in  the  breast — 
At  thrill  from  the  touch  of  the  side. 

2.  In  time  awakes  a  new  charm 
As  you  turn  and  gently  caress; 
Short  comes  the  breath — at 

The  thrill  from  the  touch  of  the  side. 
Chorus . 

The  fragments  of  Hawaiian  music  that  have  drifted  down  to  us 
no  doubt  remain  true  to  the  ancient  type,  however  much  they  may 
have  changed  in  quality.  They  show  the  characteristics  that  stamp 
all  primitive  music — plaintiveness  to  the  degree  almost  of  sadness, 
monotony,  lack  of  acquaintance  with  the  full  range  of  intervals  that 
make  up  our  diatonic  scale,  and  therefore  a  measurable  absence  of  that 
ear-charm  we  call  melod3\    These  are  among  its  deficiencies. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  we  set  down  the  positive  qualities  by  the 
possession  of  which  it  makes  good  its  claim  to  be  classed  as  music, 
we  shall  find  that  it  has  a  firm  hold  on  rhythm.  This  is  indeed 
one  of  the  special  excellencies  of  Hawaiian  music.  Added  to  this,  we 
find  that  it  makes  a  limited  use  of  such  intervals  as  the  third,  fifth, 
fourth,  and  at  the  same  time  resorts  extravagantly,  as  if  in  compensa- 
tion, to  a  fine  tone-carving  that  divides  up  the  tone-interval  into 
fractions  so  much  less  than  the  semitone  that  our  ears  are  almost 
indifferent  to  them,  and  are  at  first  inclined  to  deny  their  existence. 
This  minute  division  of  the  tone,  or  step,  and  neglect  at  the  same 
time  of  tlie  broader  harmonic  intervals,  reminds  one  of  work  in  which 
the  artist  charges  his  picture  with  unimportant  detail,  while  failing 
in  attention  to  the  strong  outlines.  Among  its  merits  we  must  not 
forget  to  mention  a  certain  quality  of  tone-color  which  inheres  in  the 
Hawaiian  tongue  and  which  greatly  tends  to  the  enhancement  of 
Hawaiian  music,  especially  when  thrown  into  rhythmic  forms. 

The  first  thing,  then,  to  repeat,  that  will  strike  the  auditor  on 
listening  to  this  primitive  music  will  be  its  lack  of  melody.  The  voice 
goes  wavering  and  lilting  along  like  a  canoe  on  a  rippling  ocean. 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN    LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  171 

Then,  of  a  sudden,  it  swells  upward,  as  if  lifted  by  some  wave  of  emo- 
tion ;  and  there  for  a  time  it  travels  with  the  same  fluctuating  move- 
ment, soon  descending  to  its  old  monotone,  until  again  moved  to 
rise  on  the  breast  of  some  fresh  impulse.  The  intervals  sounded  may 
be,  as  already  said,  a  third,  or  a  fifth,  or  a  fourth;  but  the  whole 
movement  leads  nowhere ;  it  is  an  unfinished  sentence.  Yet,  in  spite 
of  all  these  drawbacks  and  of  this  childish  immaturity,  the  amateur 
and  enthusiast  finds  himself  charmed  and  held  as  if  in  the  clutch  of 
some  Old- World  spell,  and  this  at  what  others  will  call  the  dreary 
and  monotonous  intoning  of  the  savage. 

In  matters  that  concern  the  emotions  it  is  rarely  possible  to  trace 
with  certainty  the  lines  that  lead  up  from  effect  to  cause.  Such  is 
the  nature  of  art.  If  we  would  touch  the  cause  which  lends  attrac- 
tiveness to  Hawaiian  music,  we  must  look  elsewhere  than  to  melody. 
In  the  belief  of  the  author  the  two  elements  that  conspire  for  this 
end  are  rhythm  and  tone-color,  which  comes  of  a  delicate  feeling  for 
vowel-values. 

The  hall-mark  of  Hawaiian  music  is  rhythm,  for  the  Hawaiians  be- 
long to  that  class  of  people  who  can  not  move  hand  or  foot  or  per- 
form any  action  except  they  do  it  rhythmically.  Xot  alone  in  poetry 
and  music  and  the  dance  do  we  find  this  recurring  accent  of  pleasure, 
but  in  every  action  of  life  it  seems  to  enter  as  a  timekeeper  and  regu- 
lator, whether  it  be  the  movement  of  a  fingerful  of  poi  to  the  mouth 
or  the  swing  of  a  kahili  through  the  incense-laden  air  at  the  burial 
of  a  chief. 

The  typical  Hawaiian  rhythm  is  a  measure  of  four  beats,  varied 
at  times  by  a  2-rhythm,  or  changed  by  syncopation  into  a  S-rhj^thm. 

These  people  have  an  emotional  susceptibility  and  a  sympathy 
with  environment  that  belongs  to  the  artistic  temperament ;  but  their 
feelings,  though  easily  stirred,  are  not  persistent  and  ideally  cen- 
.tered;  they  readilj^  wander  away  from  any  example  or  pattern.  In 
this  way  may  be  explained  their  inclination  to  lapse  from  their  own 
standard  of  rhythm  into  inexplicable  syncopations. 

As  an  instance  of  sympathy  with  environment,  an  experience  with 
a  hula  dancer  may  be  mentioned.  Wishing  to  observe  the  movement 
of  the  dance  in  time  with  the  singing  of  the  mele,  the  author  asked 
him  to  perform  the  two  at  one  time.  He  made  the  attempt,  but 
failed.  At  length,  bethinking  himself,  he  drew  off  his  coat  and 
bound  it  about  his  loins  after  the  fashion  of  a  pa-u,  such  as  is  worn 
by  hula  dancers.  He  at  once  caught  inspiration,  and  was  thus  ena- 
bled to  perform  the  double  role  of  dancer  and  singer. 

It  has  been  often  remarked  by  musical  teachers  who  have  had  ex- 
perience with  these  islanders  that  as  singers  they  are  prone  to  flat 
the  tone  and  to  drag  the  time,  yet  under  the  stimulus  of  emotion  they 
show  the  ubility  to  acquit  themselves  in  these  respects  with  great 
credit.     The  native  inertia  of  their  being  demands  the  spur  of  ex- 


172 


BUREAU    OF    AMRRTCAN    ETHNOLOGY 


[BULL.  38 


citement  to  keep  them  up  to  the  mark.  While  human  nature  every- 
^vhel•e  shares  in  this  weakness,  the  tendency  seems  to  be  greater  in 
the  Hawaiian  than  in  some  other  races  of  no  higher  intellectual  and 
esthetic  advancement. 

Another  quality  of  the  Hawaiian  character  which  reenforces  this 
tendency  is  their  spirit  of  communal  sympathy.  That  is  but  another 
way  of  saying  that  they  need  the  stimulus  of  the  crowd,  as  well  as 
of  the  occasion,  even  to  make  them  keep  step  to  the  rhythm  of  their 
own  nuisic.  In  all  of  these  points  they  are  but  an  epitome  of  hu- 
manity. 

Before  closing  this  special  subject,  the  treatment  of  w^hich  has 
grown  to  an  unexpected  length,  the  author  feels  constrained  to  add 
one  more  illustration  of  Hawaii's  musical  productions.  The  Ha- 
waiian national  hymn  on  its  poetical  side  may  be  called  the  last  ap- 
peal of  royalty  to  the  nation's  feeling  of  race-pride.  The  music, 
though  by  a  foreigner,  is  well  suited  to  the  words  and  is  colored  by 
(he  environment  in  which  the  composer  has  spent  the  best  years  of 
his  life.  The  whole  production  seems  well  fitted  to  serve  as  the 
clarion  of  a  people  that  need  e\-ery  help  which  art  and  imagination 
can  offer. 


XIV — Hawaii  Ponoi 


Words  by  King  Kajlakaia 
Soprano 


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Composed  by  H.  Berger 


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EMEBSONi 


UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII 


173 


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BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY 
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1.  Hawni'i  iioiioi, 
Nana  i  kou  Moī, 
Ka  lani  Ali'i, 
Ke  Ali'i. 

Refrain: 
Makua  lani,  e, 
Kamebameha,  e, 
Na  kaua  e  pale, 
Me  ka  ibe. 


2.  Ilaw.'u'i  ponof. 

Nana  i  na  'li'i, 

Na  i)na  nmli  koii, 

Na  poki'i. 
Refrain  : 
H.  Hawai'i  lumoi 

E  ka  laluii,  e. 

O  kan  liana  nui 

E  ui,  o. 
Refrain. 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN    LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  175 

[Translation] 
Hawaii  Ponoi 

1.  Hawaii's  very  own, 

Look  to  your  sovran  Lord, 
Your    chief    that's    heaven-bom, 
AVho  is  your  King. 

Refrain: 
Protector,  heaven-sent, 
Kamehameha  great, 
To  vanquish  every  foe. 
With  conquering  si)ear. 

2.  Men  of  Hawaii's  land, 
Loolv  to  your  native  chiefs. 
Your  sole  surviving  lords. 
The  nation's  pride. 

Refrain: 

3.  Men  of  Hawaiian  stocli, 
My  nation  ever  dear. 
With  loins  begirt  for  work. 
Strive  with  your  might. 

Refrain. 


XXII.— GESTURE 

Gesture  is  a  voiceless  speech,  a  short-hand  dramatic  picture.  The 
Hawaiians  were  adepts  in  this  sort  of  art.  Hand  and  foot,  face  and 
eye,  and  those  convohitions  of  gray  matter  which  are  linked  to  the 
organs  of  speech,  all  worked  in  such  harmony  that,  when  the  man 
spoke,  he  spoke  not  alone  witli  his  vocal  organs,  but  all  over,  from 
head  to  foot,  every  part  adding  its  emphasis  to  the  utterance.  Von 
Moltke  could  be  reticent  in  six  languages;  the  Hawaiian  found  it 
impossible  to  be  reticent  in  one. 

The  hands  of  the  hula  dancer  are  ever  going  out  in  gesture,  her 
body  swaying  and  pivoting  itself  in  attitudes  of  expression.  Her 
whole  physique  is  a  living  and  moving  picture  of  feeling,  sentiment, 
and  passion.  If  the  range  of  thought  is  not  always  deep  or  high,  it 
is  not  the  fault  of  her  art,  but  the  limitations  of  her  original  endow- 
ment, limitations  of  hereditary  environment,  the  universal  limitations 
imposed  on  the  translation  from  spirit  into  matter. 

The  art  of  gesture  was  one  of  the  most  important  branches  taught 
by  the  kumu.  When  the  hula  expert,  the  olohe^  who  has  entered  the 
halau  as  a  visitor,  utters  the  prayer  (p.  47),  "  O  Laka,  give  grace  to 
the  feet  of  Pohaku,  and  to  her  bracelets  and  anklets ;  give  comeliness 
to  the  figure  and  skirt  of  Luukia.  To  each  one  give  gestiire  and 
voice.  O  Laka,  make  beautiful  the  lei;  inspire  the  dancers  to  stand 
before  the  assembly,"  his  meaning  was  clear  and  unmistakable,  and 
showed  his  high  valuation  of  this  method  of  expression.  We  are  not, 
however,  to  suppose  that  the  kumu-hula,  whatever  his  artistic  attain- 
ments, followed  any  set  of  formulated  doctrines  in  his  teaching.  His 
science  was  implicit,  unformulated,  still  enfolded  in  the  silence  of 
unconsciousness,  wrapped  like  a  babe  in  its  mother's  womb.  To 
apply  a  scientific  name  to  his  method,  it  might  be  called  inductive, 
for  he  led  his  pupils  along  the  plain  road  of  practical  illustration, 
adding  example  to  example,  without  the  confusing  aid  of  preliminary 
rule  or  abstract  proposition,  until  his  pupils  had  traveled  over  the 
whole  ground  covered  by  his  own  experience. 

Each  teacher  went  according  to  the  light  that  was  in  him,  not 
forgetting  the  instructions  of  his  own  kumu,  but  using  them  as  a 
starting  point,  a  basis  on  which  to  build  as  best  he  knew.  There 
were  no  books,  no  manuals  of  instruction,  to  pass  from  hand  to  hand 
and  thus  secure  uniformity  of  instruction.  Then,  again,  it  was  a 
long  journey   from  Hawaii  to  Kauai,  or  even  from  one  island  to 

176 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN    LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  177 

another.  The  different  islands,  as  a  rule,  were  not  harnessed  to  one 
another  under  the  same  political  j^oke ;  even  districts  of  the  same  island 
were  not  unfrequently  under  the  independent  sway  of  warring  chiefs ; 
so  that  for  long  periods  the  separation,  even  the  isolation,  in  matters 
of  dramatic  art  and  practice  was  as  complete  as  in  politics. 

The  method  pursued  by  the  kumu  may  be  summarized  as  follows : 
Having  labored  to  fix  the  song,  the  mele  or  oli,  in  the  minds  of  his 
pupils,  the  haumana,  he  appointed  some  one  to  recite  the  Avords  of 
the  piece,  while  the  class,  standing  with  close  attention  to  the  motions 
of  the  kumu  and  with  ears  open  at  the  same  time  to  the  words  of  the 
leader,  were  required  to  repeat  the  kumu's  gestures  in  pantomime 
until  he  judged  them  to  have  arrived  at  a  sufficient  degree  of  per- 
fection. That  done,  the  class  took  up  the  double  task  of  recitation 
joined  to  that  of  gesture.  In  his  attempt  to  translate  his  (Concepts 
into  physical  signs  the  Hawaiian  was  favored  not  only  by  his  vivid 
power  of  imagination,  but  b}^  his  implicit  philosophy,  for  the 
Hawaiian  looked  at  things  from  a  physical  plane — a  safe  ground  to 
stand  upon — albeit  he  had  glimpses  at  times  far  into  the  depths  of 
ether.  When  he  talked  about  spirit,  he  still  had  in  mind  a  form 
of  matter.    A  god  was  to  him  but  an  amplified  human  being. 

It  is  not  the  purpose  to  attempt  a  scientific  classification  of  gesture 
as  displayed  in  the  halau.  The  most  that  can  be  done  Avill  be  to  give 
a  few  familiar  generic  illustrations  which  are  typical  and  repre- 
sentative of  a  large  class. 

The  pali,  the  precipice,  stands  for  any  difficulty  or  obstacle  of 
magnitude.  The  Hawaiian  represents  this  in  his  dramatic,  pictorial 
manner  with  the  hand  vertically  posed  on  the  outstretched  arm,  the 
palm  of  the  hand  looking  away.  If  it  is  desired  to  represent  this 
wall  of  obstacle  as  being  surmounted,  the  hand  is  pushed  forward, 
and  at  the  same  time  somewhat  inclined,  perhaps,  from  its  rigid 
perpendicularity,  the  action  being  accompanied  by  a  series  of  slight 
lifting  or  waving  movements  as  of  climbing. 

Another  way  of  dramatically  picturing  this  same  concept,  that  of 
the  pali  as  a  wall  of  obstacle,  is  by  holding  the  forearm  and  hand 
vertically  posed  with  the  palmar  aspect  facing  the  speaker.  This 
method  of  expression,  while  perhaps  bolder  and  more  graphic  than 
that  before  mentioned,  seems  more  purely  oratorical  and  less  graceful, 
less  subtly  pictorial  and  elegant  than  the  one  previously  described, 
and  therefore  less  adapted  to  the  hula.  For  it  must  be  borne  in  mind 
that  the  hula  demanded  the  subordination  of  strength  to  grace  and 
elegance.  We  may  at  the  same  time  be  sure  that  the  halau  showed 
individuality  in  its  choice  of  methods,  that  it  varied  its  technique  and 
manner  of  expression  at  different  times  and  places,  according  to  the 
different  conception  of  one  or  another  kumu. 
2r)3r.2— Bull.  38—09^ 12 


178  BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

Progression,  as  in  walking  or  traveling,  is  represented  by  means  of 
a  forward  undulatory  movement  of  the  outstretched  arm  and  hand, 
palm  downward,  in  a  horizontal  plane.  This  gesture  is  rhythmic 
and  beautifully  pictorial.  If  the  other  hand  also  is  made  a  partner 
in  the  gesture,  the  significance  would  seem  to  be  extended,  making  it 
include,  perhaps,  a  larger  number  in  the  traveling  company.  The 
mere  extension  of  the  arm,  the  back-hand  advanced,  w^ould  serve 
the  purj^ose  of  indicating  removal,  travel,  but  in  a  manner  less 
gracious  and  caressing. 

To  represent  an  open  level  space,  as  of  a  sand-beach  or  of  the  earth- 
plain,  the  Hawaiian  very  naturally  extended  his  arms  and  open 
hands — palms  downward,  of  course — the  degree  of  his  reaching  effort 
being  in  a  sense  a  measure  of  the  scope  intended. 

To  represent  the  act  of  covering  or  protecting  oneself  with  clothing, 
the  Hawaiian  placed  the  hollow  of  each  hand  over  the  opposite 
shoulder  with  a  sort  of  hugging  action.  But  here,  again,  one  can  lay 
down  no  hard  and  fast  rule.  There  Avas  differentiation ;  the  pictorial 
action  might  well  vary  according  to  the  actor's  conception  of  the  three 
or  more  generic  forms  that  constituted  the  varieties  of  Hawaiian 
dress,  which  were  the  mdlo  of  the  man,  the  pa-u  of  the  Avoman,  and 
the  decent  kihei^  a  togalike  robe,  w^hich,  like  the  blanket  of  the  Xorth 
American  Indian,  was  common  to  both  sexes.  Still  another  gesture, 
a  sweeping  of  the  hands  from  the  shoulder  down  toward  the  ground, 
would  be  used  to  indicate  that  costly  feather  robe,  the  ahuida,  which 
was  the  regalia  and  prerogative  of  kings  and  chiefs. 

The  Hawaiian  places  his  hands,  palms  up,  edge  to  edge,  so  that  the 
little  finger  of  one  hand  touches  its  fellow  of  the  other  hand.  By 
this  action  he  means  union  or  similarity.  He  turns  one  palm  down, 
so  that  the  little  finger  and  thumb  of  opposite  hands  touch  each  other. 
The  significance  of  the  action  is  now  wholly  reversed ;  he  now  means 
disunion,  contrariety. 

To  indicate  death,  the  death  of  a  person,  the  finger-tips,  placed  in 
apposition,  are  drawn  away  from  each  other  with  a  sweeping  ges- 
ture and  at  the  same  time  lowered  till  the  palms  face  the  ground.  In 
this  case  also  we  find  diversity.  One  old  man,  well  acquainted  with 
hula  matters,  being  asked  to  signify  in  pantomimic  fashion  "  the 
king  is  sick,"  went  through  the  following  motions:  He  first  pointed 
upward,  to  indicate  tlie  heaven-born  one,  the  king;  then  he  brought 
his  hands  to  his  body  and  threw  his  face  into  a  painful  grimace.  To 
indicate  the  death  of  the  king  he  threw  his  hands  upward  toward  the 
sky,  as  if  to  signify  a  removal  by  flight.  He  admitted  the  accuracy 
of  the  gesture,  previously  described,  in  which  the  hands  are  moved 
toward  the  ground. 

There  are,  of  course,  imitative  and  mimetic  gestures  galore,  as  of 
paddling,  swimming,  diving,  angling,  and  the  like,  which  one  sees 


EMEKSUN]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE   OF   HAWAII  179 

every  day  of  his  life  and  which  are  to  be  regarded  as  parts  of  that 
universal  shorthand  vocabulary  of  unvocalized  speech  that  is  used 
the  world  over  from  Xaples  to  Honolulu,  rather  than  stage-conven- 
tions of  the  halau.  It  will  suffice  to  mention  one  motion  or  gesture 
of  this  sort  which  the  author  has  seen  used  with  dramatic  effect.  An 
old  man  was  describing  the  action  of  Hiiaka  (the  little  sister  of  Pele) 
Avhile  clearing  a  passage  for  herself  and  her  female  companion  with 
a  great  slaughter  of  the  reptilian  demon-horde  of  mo'o  that  came 
out  in  swarms  to  oppose  the  progress  of  the  goddess  through  their 
territory  while  she  was  on  her  way  to  fetch  Prince  Lohiau.  The 
goddessj  a  delicate  piece  of  humanity  in  her  real  self,  made  short 
work  of  the  little  devils  who  covered  the  earth  and  filled  the  air. 
Seizing  one  after  another,  she  bit  its  life  out,  or  swallowed  it  as  if  it 
had  been  a  shrimp.  The  old  maai  represented  the  action  most  vividly  : 
pressing  his  thum.b,  forefinger,  and  middle  finger  into  a  cone,  he 
brought  them  quickly  to  his  mouth,  while  he  snapped  his  jaws  to- 
gether like  a  dog  seizing  a  morsel,  an  action  that  pictured  the  story 
better  than  any  words. 

It  might  seem  at  first  blush  that  facial  expression,  important  as  it 
isj  owing  to  its  short  range  of  effectiveness,  should  hardly  be  put  in 
the  same  category  with  what  may  be  called  the  major  stage-gestures 
that  were  in  vogue  in  the  halau.  But  such  a  judgment  would  cer- 
tainly be  mistaken.  The  Greek  use  of  masks  on  the  stage  for  their 
"  carrying  power  •'  testified  to  their  valuation  of  the  countenance  as 
a  semaphore  of  emotion ;  at  the  same  time  their  resort  to  this  artifice 
was  an  implicit  recognition  of  the  desirability  of  bringing  the  win- 
dow of  the  soul  nearer  to  the  audience.  The  Hawaiians,  though  they 
made  no  use  of  masks  in  the  halau,  valued  facial  expression  no  less 
than  the  Greeks.  The  means  for  the  study  of  this  division  of  the 
subject,  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  is  somewhat  restricted  and  the 
pursuit  of  illustrations  makes  it  necessary  to  go  outside  of  the  halau. 

The  Hawaiian  language  was  one  of  hospitality  and  invitation.  The 
expression  mai^  or  homo  mai^  this  way,  or  come  in,  was  the  most 
common  of  salutations.  The  Hawaiian  sat  down  to  meat  before  an 
open  door;  he  ate  his  food  in  the  sight  of  all  men,  and  it  was  only 
one  who  dared  being  denounced  as  a  churl  who  would  fail  to  invite 
with  word  and  gesture  the  i^asser-by  to  come  in  and  share  with  him. 
This  gesture  might  be  a  sweeping,  downward,  or  sidewise  motion  of 
the  hand  in  which  the  palm  faced  and  drew  toward  the  speaker. 
This  seems  to  have  been  the  usual  form  when  the  two  parties  were 
near  to  each  other;  if  they  were  separated  by  any  considerable  dis- 
tance, the  fingers  would  perhaps  more  likely  be  turned  upward,  thus 
making  the  signal  more  distinctly  visible  and  at  the  same  time  more 
emphatic. 


180  BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bill.  88 

In  the  expression  of  uiivoicecl  assent  and  dissent  tlie  Hawaiian 
practised  refinements  that  went  beyond  our  ordinary  conventions. 
To  give  assent  he  did  not  find  it  necessary  so  much  as  to  nod  the 
head;  a  lifting  of  the  eyebrows  sufficed.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
expression  of  dissent  was  no  less  simple  as  well  as  decisive,  being 
attained  by  a  mere  grimace  of  the  nose.  This  manner  of  indicating 
dissent  was  not,  perhaps,  without  some  admixture  of  disdain  or  even 
scorn;  but  that  feeling,  if  predominant,  would  call  for  a  reenforce- 
ment  of  the  gesture  by  some  additional  token,  such  as  a  pouting  of  the 
lips  accompanied  by  an  upward  toss  of  the  chin.  A  more  impersonal 
and  coldly  businesslike  way  of  manifesting  a  negative  was  by  an 
outward  sweep  of  the  hand,  the  back  of  the  hand  being  turned  to  the 
applicant.  Such  a  gesture,  when  addressed  to  a  huckster  or  a  beg- 
gar— a  rare  bird,  by  the  way,  in  old  Hawaii — was  accepted  as  final. 

There  was  another  method  of  signifying  a  most  emphatic,  even 
contemptuous,  no.  In  this  the  tongue  is  protruded  and  allowed 
to  hang  down  flat  and  wide  like  the  flaming  banner  of  a  panting 
hound.  A  friend  states  that  the  Maoris  made  great  use  of  gestures 
with  the  tongue  in  their  dances,  especially  in  the  war-dance,  sometimes 
letting  it  hang  down  broad,  flat,  and  long,  directly  in  front,  some- 
times curving  it  to  right  or  left,  and  sometimes  stuffing  it  into  the  hol- 
low of  the  cheek  and  puffing  out  one  side  of  the  face.  This  manner — 
these  methods  it  might  be  said — of  facial  expression,  so  far  as  ob- 
served and  so  far  as  .can  be  learned,  were  chiefly  of  feminine  practice. 
The  ver}^  last  gesture — that  of  the  protruded  tongue — is  not  men- 
tioned as  one  likely  to  be  employed  on  the  stage  in  the  halau,  cer- 
tainly not  in  the  performance  of  what  one  would  call  the  serious 
hulas.  But  it  might  well  have  been  employed  in  the  hula  ki'i  (see 
p.  1)1),  Avhich  was  devoted,  as  we  have  seen,  to  the  portrayal  of  the 
lighter  and  more  comic  aspects  of  daily  life. 

It  is  somewhat  difficult  to  interpret  the  meaning  of  the  various 
attitudes  and  movements  of  the  feet  and  legs.  Their  remoteness  from 
the  centers  of  emotional  control,  their  detachment  from  the  vortices 
of  excitement,  and  their  seeming  restriction  to  'mechanical  functions 
make  them  seem  but  slightly  sympathetic  with  those  tides  of  emotion 
tliat  speed  through  the  vital  parts  of  the  frame.  But,  though  some- 
what aloof  from,  they  are  still  under  the  dominion  of,  the  same  emo- 
tional laws  tliat  govern  the  more  central  parts.  _ 

Man    is   all   sympathy  one   part   with   another; 
For    head   with    heart    hath    joyful   amity, 
And   both   with   moon   and   tides. 

The  ilhistrations  brought  to  ilhnninate  this  division  of  the  subject 
will  necessarily  be  of  the  most  general  application  and  will  seem  to 
ludong  rather  to  the  domain  of  oratory  than  to  that  of  dramatic  or 


BUREAU   OF  AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY 


BULLETIN  38     PLATE  XX 


PHYLLODIA    AND    TRUE     LEAVES    OF    THE     KOA     lACACIA     KOAj 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN    LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  181 

stage  expression,  by  which  is  meant  expression  fitted  for  the  purposes 
of  the  halau. 

To  begin  with  a  general  proposition,  the  attitude  of  the  feet  and 
legs  must  be  sympathetic  with  that  of  the  other  parts  of  the  body. 
When  standing  squarely  on  both  feet  and  looking  directly  forward, 
the  action  may  be  called  noncommittal,  general ;  but  if  the  address  is 
specialized  and  directed  to  a  part  of  the  audience,  or  if  attention  is 
called  to  some  particular  region,  the  face  will  naturally  turn  in  that 
direction.  To  attain  this  end,  while  the  leg  and  arm  of  the  corre- 
sponding side  will  be  drawn  back,  the  leg  and  arm  of  the  opposite 
side  will  be  advanced,  thus  causing  the  speaker  to  face  the  point  of  ad- 
dress. If  the  speaker  or  the  actor  addresses  himself,  then,  to  persons, 
or  to  an  object,  on  his  right,  the  left  leg  will  be  the  one  more  in  ad- 
vance and  the  left  arm  will  be  the  one  on  which  the  burden  of  gesture 
will  fall,  and  Adce  versa. 

It  would  be  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  every  motion  or  gesture  dis- 
played by  the  actors  on  the  stage  of  the  halau  was  significant  of  a 
purpose.  To  do  that  would  be  to  ascribe  to  them  a  flawless  perfection 
and  strength  that  no  body  of  artists  have  ever  attained.  Many  of 
their  gestures,  like  the  rhetoric  of  a  popular  orator,  were  mere  flour- 
ishes and  ornaments.  With  a  language  so  full  of  seemingly  super- 
fluous parts,  it  could  not  well  be  otherwise  than  that  their  rhetoric  of 
gesture  should  be  overloaded  with  flourishes. 

The  whole  subject  of  gesture,  including  facial  expression,  is  worthy 
of  profound  study,  for  it  is  linked  to  the  basic  elements  of  psychology. 
The  illustrations  adduced  touch  only  the  skirts  of  the  subject;  but 
they  must  suffice.  An  exhaustive  analysis,  the  author  believes,  would 
show  an  intimate  and  causal  relation  between  these  facial  expressions 
and  the  muscular  movements  that  are  the  necessary  accompaniments 
or  resultants  of  actual  speech.  To  illustrate,  the  pronunciation  of  the 
Hawaiian  word  ae  (pronounced  like  our  aye) ,  meaning ''  yes,"  involves 
the  opening  of  the  mouth  to  its  full  extent;  and  this  action,  when 
accomplished,  results  in  a  sympathetic  lifting  of  the  eyebrows.  It  is 
this  ultimate  and  completing  part  of  the  action  Avhich  the  Hawaiian 
woman  adopts  as  her  semaphore  of  assent. 

One  of  the  puzzling  things  about  gesture  comes  when  we  try  to 
think  of  it.  as  a  science  rooted  in  psycholog}^  It  is  then  we  discover 
variations  presented  by  different  peoples  in  different  lands,  which 
force  us  to  the  conviction  that  in  only  a  part  of  its  domain  does  it 
base  itself  on  the  strict  principles  of  psychology.  Gesture,  like 
language,  seems  to  be  made  up  in  good  measure  of  an  opportunist 
growth  that  springs  up  in  answer  to  man's  varying  needs  and  con- 
ditions. The  writer  hopes  he  Avill  not  be  charged  with  begging  the 
question  in  suggesting  that  another  element  which  we  nmst  reckon 


184  BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

10        A  ka  bale  ku'i. 

Ku'i  oe  a  loiio  Kahiki-nui ; 

Hooloi  ia  iliiiia  o  Kaua-loa, 

Ka  liliililii  pua  o  ka  iiiakemake. 

Mao  ole  ke  Koolaii  i  ka  lihilihi. 
15         He  libi  kiileaua  ia  no  Puna. 

0  ko'u  puni  no  ia  o  ka  ike  maka. 
Aohe  makamaka  o  ka  hale,  iia  hele  oe; 
Nawai  la  an  e  bookipa 

1  keia  mahaoi  ana  niai  nei  o  ka  loa? 
20         He  uiakemake  no  an  e  ike  niaka; 

I  Lookahl  no  i)o,  le'a  ke  kannu, 

Ka  bana  niao  ole  a  ke  ann. 

He  ann  mawabo,  a  be  hn'i  ma-loko. 

A  ilaihi  lana  la,  la'i  pono  iho. 
25         Ua  ix)no  oe  o  kana,  ua  alu  ka  nioena  ; 

Ka  bana  man  a  ka  Inn-wai : 

Mao  ole  i  ka  nui  kino. 

Ku'u  kino  keia  manna  ia  ba'i. 

E  Kn,  e  boolei  la  ! 
30         A  ua  noa ! 

[Translation] 
Song 

I  am  smitten  witb  spear  of  Kane; 

Mine  eyes  witb  longing  scan  Koolan ; 

Bebold  tbe  love-omen  bang  o'er  tbe  sea. 

I  dive  and.  come  up,  dive  and  come  up ; 
5         Tbus  I  reach  my  goal  Wai-ko-loa. 

The  v^idtb  of  plain  is  a  trifle 

To  tbe  joyful  spirit  of  Kane. 

Aye,  a  husband,  and  patron  is  be 

To  the  dance  of  the  bended  knee, 
10        In  tbe  ball  of  tbe  stamping  feet. 

Stamp,  till  tbe  echo  reaches  Kabiki ; 

Still  pluck  you  a  wreath  by  tbe  way 

To  crown  your  fondest  ambition ; 

A  wreath  not  marred  by  tbe  salt  wind 
in         That  plays  witb  the  skirts  of  Puna. 

I  long  to  look  eye  into  eye. 

Friendless  tbe  bouse,  you  away ; 

Pray  who  will   rc^vive.   who  welcome. 

This  guest  uninvited  from  far? 
2n         I  long  for  one  (soul-deep)  gaze. 

One  night  of  precious  communion ; 

Such  a  flower  wilts  not  in  tbe  cold— 

Cold  without,  a  tumult  within. 

What  bliss,  if  we  two  were  together! 
2."»         You  are  the  blest  of  us  twaifi : 

Tbe  mat   bends  under  your   form. 

Tbe  thirsty  wind,  it  still  rages, 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN    LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  185 

Appeased  not  with  her  whole  body. 
My  body  is  pledged  to  another. 
30         Crown  it,  Kii,  crown  it. 
Now  the  service  is  free  I 

Some  parts  of  this  mele,  which  is  a  love-song,  have  defied  the 
author's  most  strenuous  efforts  to  penetrate  tlieir  deeper  meaning. 
No  Hawaiian  consulted  has  made  a  pretense  of  understanding  it 
wholly.  The  Philistines  of  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century,  into 
whose  hands  it  fell,  have  not  helped  matters  b}^  the  emendations  and 
interpolations  with  which  they  slyly  interlarded  the  text,  as  if  to  set 
before  us  in  a  strong  light  the  stigmata  of  degeneracy  from  which 
they  were  suffering. 

The  author  has  discarded  from  the  text  two  verses  which  followed 
verse  28 : 

Hai'na   ia   mai  ka   pnaua  : 
Ka  wai  anapa  i  ke  knla. 

[Translation] 

Declare  to  me  now  the  riddle : 
The  waters  that  flash  on  the  plain. 

The  author  has  refrained  from  casting  out  the  last  two  verses, 
though  in  his  judgment  they  are  entirely  out  of  place  and  were  not 
in  the  mele  originally. 


XXTV— THE  HULA  PELE 

The  Hawaiian  drama  could  lay  hold  of  no  worthier  theme  than 
that  offered  by  the  story  of  Pele.  In  this  epic  we  find  the  natural 
and  the  suj)ernatural,  the  everyday  events  of  nature  and  the  sublime 
j)henomena  of  nature's  wonderland,  so  interwoven  as  to  make  a  story 
rich  in  strong  human  and  deific  coloring.  It  is  true  that  the  genius 
of  the  Hawaiian  was  not  equal  to  the  task  of  assembling  the  dis- 
severed parts  and  of  combining  into  artistic  unity  the  materials  his 
own  imagination  had  spun.  This  very  fact,  however,  brings  us  so 
much  nearer  to  the  inner  workshop  of  the  Hawaiian  mind. 

The  story  of  Pele  is  so  long  and  complicated  that  only  a  brief  ab- 
stract of  it  can  be  offered  now: 

Pele,  the  goddess  of  the  volcano,  in  her  dreams  and  wanderings 
in  spirit-form,  met  and  loved  the  handsome  Prince  Lohiau.  She 
would  not  be  satisfied  with  mere  spiritual  ilitercourse ;  she  demanded 
the  sacrament  of  bodily  presence.  Who  should  be  the  embassador  to 
bring  the  youth  from  his  distant  home  on  Kauai?  She  begged  her 
grown-up  sisters  to  attempt  the  task.  They  foresaw  the  peril  and 
declined  the  thankless  undertaking.  Hiiaka,  the  youngest  and  most 
affectionate,  accepted 'the  mission;  but,  knowing  her  sister's  evil  tem- 
l)er,  strove  to  obtain  from  Pele  a  guarant}^  that  her  own  forests  and 
the  life  of  her  bosom  friend  Hopoe  should  be  safeguarded  during  her 
absence. 

Hiiaka  was  accompanied  by  AYahine-oma'o — the  woman  in  green — 
a  woman  as  beautiful  as  herself.  After  many  adventures  they,  arrived 
at  Haena  and  found  Lohiau  dead  and  in  his  sepulchre,  a  sacrifice 
to  the  jealousy  of  Pele.  They  entered  the  cave,  and  after  ten  days 
of  prayer  and  incantation  Hiiaka  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  the 
body  of  Lohiau  warmed  and  animated  by  the  reentrance  of  the  spirit; 
and  the  company,  now  of  three,  soon  started  on  the  return  to  Kilauea. 

The  time  consumed  by  Hiiaka  in  her  going  and  doing  and  return- 
ing had  been  so  long  that  Pele  was  moved  to  unreasonable  jealousy 
and,  regardless  of  her  promise  to  her  faithful  sister,  she  devastated 
with  fire  the  forest  parks  of  Hiiaka  and  sacrificed  the  life  of  Hiiaka's 
l)()som  friend,  the  innocent  and  beautiful  Hoj^oe. 

Hiiaka  and  Lohiau,  on  their  arrival  at  Kilauea,  seated  themselves 
on  its  ferny  brink,  and  there,  in  the  open  view  of  Pele's  court,  Hiiaka, 
in  resentment  at  the  broken  faith  of  her  sister  and  in  defiance  of  her 
power,  invited  and  received  from  Lohiau  the  kisses  and  dalliance 

180 


EMERSON]  UNWKITTEN    LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  187 

which  up  to  that  time  she  had  repelled.  Pele,  in  a  frenzy  of  passion, 
overwhelmed  her  errant  lover,  Lohiau,  with  fire,  turned  his  body 
into  a  pillar  of  rock,  and  convulsed  earth  and  sea.  Only  through  the 
intervention  of  the  benevolent  peacemaking  god  Kane  was  the  order 
of  the  world  saved  from  utter  ruin. 

The  ancient  Hawaiians  naturally  regarded  the  Pele  hula  with 
special  reverence  by  reason  of  its  mythological  importance,  and  they 
selected  it  for  performance  on  occasions  of  gravity  as  a  means  of  hon- 
oring the  kings  and  alii  of  the  land.  They  would  have  considered  its 
presentation  on  common  occasions,  or  in  a  spirit  of  levity,  as  a  great 
impropriety. 

In  ancient  times  the  performance  of  the  hula  Pele,  like  that  of  all 
other  plays,  was  prefaced  with  prayer  and  sacrifice.  The  offering 
customarily  used  in  the  service  of  this  hula  consisted  of  salt  crystals 
and  of  luau  made  from  the  delicate  unrolled  taro  leaf.  This  was  the 
gift  demanded  of  every  pupil  seeking  admission  to  the  school  of  the 
hula,  being  looked  upon  as  an  offering  specially  acceptable  to  Pele, 
the  patron  of  this  hula.  In  the  performance  of  the  sacrifice  teacher 
and  pupil  approached  and  stood  reverently  before  the  kuahu  while 
the  former  recited  a  mele,  which  was  a  prayer  to  the  goddess.  The 
pupil  ate  the  luau,  the  teacher  placed  the  package  of  salt  on  the  altar, 
and  the  service  was  complete. 

Both  olapa  and  hoopaa  took  part  in  the  performance  of  this  hula. 
There  was  little  or  no  moving  about,  but  the  olapa  did  at  times  sink 
down  to  a  kneeling  position.  The  performance  was  without  instru- 
mental accompaniment,  but  with  abundant  appropriate  gestures. 
The  subjects  treated  of  were  of  such  dignity  and  interest  as  to  require 
no  extraneous  embellishment. 

Perusal  of  the  mele  which  follows  will  show  that  the  story  of  Pele 
dated  back  of  her  arrival  in  this  group : 

He  on — 0  ka  mele  mua  Tceia  o  ka  hula  Pele 

Mai  Kahiki  ka  wahine,  o  Pele, 
Mai  ka  aina  i  Pola-pola, 
Mai  ka  punohu  ula  a  Kane, 
Mai  ke  ao  lalapa  i  ka  laiii, 
5        Mai  ka  opua  lapa  i  Kahiki. 

Lapa-ku  i  Hawaii  ka  wahine,  o  Pele; 
Kalai  i  ka  wa'a  Houna-i-a-kea, 
Kou  wa'a,  e  Ka-moho-alii. 
I  apo'a  ka  mokn  i  'pa'a ; 
10        Ua  hoa  ka  wa'a  o  ke  Akua, 

Ka  wa'a  o  Kane-kalai-honua. 
Holo  mai  ke  an,  a'ea'e  Pele-honna-niea ; 
A'ea'e  ka  Lani,  ai-puni'a  1  ka  nioku  ; 
A'ea'e  Kiui  o  ke  Akua, 


188  BUREAU    OF    AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

15        Nobo  a'e  o  Malan. 

Ua  ka  ia  ka  liu  o  ka  wa'a. 

la  wai  ka  hope,  ka  iili  o  ka  wa'a,  e  ne  lioa  'liiV 

la  Pele-boiuia-iiiea. 

A'ea'e  kai  lioe  oluna  o  ka  wa'a. 

20        O  Kn  ma,  laiia  o  Lono, 
Nolio  i  ka  bonua  aina, 
Kau  aku  i  boolewa  moku. 
Hiiaka,  iioiaii,  be  akua, 
Kii  ae,  bele  a  nobo  i  ka  bale  o  Pele. 

25        Huabiia'i  Kabiki,  lapa  uila,  e  Pele. 
E  bua'i,  e! 

[Translation] 
A  Song — The  first  song  of  the  hula  Pele 

From   Kabiki  came  tbe  woman,   Pele, 
From  tbe  land  of  Pola-pola, 
From  tbe  red  cloud  of  Kane, 
Cloud  blazing  in  tbe  beavens, 
5         Fiery  cloud-pile  in  Kabiki. 

Eager  desire  for  Hawaii  seized  tbe  woman,  Pele; 
Sbe  carved  tbe  canoe,  Honua-i-a-kea, 
Your   canoe,   O   Ka-mobo-alii. 
Tbey  pusb  tbe  work  on  tbe  craft  to  completion. 
10         Tbe  lasbings  of  tbe  god's  canoe  are  done, 
Tbe  canoe  of  Kane,  tbe  world-maker. 

Tbe  tides  swirl,  Pele-bonua-mea  o'ermounts  tbem ; 
Tbe  god  rides  tbe  waves,  sails  about  tbe  island; 
Tbe  liost  of  little  gods  ride  tbe  billows; 
15         Malau  takes  bis  seat; 

One  bales  out  tbe  bilge  of  tbe  craft. 

AVbo  sball  sit  astern,  be  steersman,  O,  princes? 

Pele  of  tbe  yellow  eartb. 

Tbe  splasb  of  tbe  paddles  dasbes  o'er  tbe  canoe. 

20        Ku  and  bis  fellow,   Lono, 
Disembark  on  solid  land ; 
Tbey  aligbt  on  a  sboal. 
Hiiaka,  tbe  wise  one,  a  god, 
Stands  uj»,  goes  to  stay  at  tbe  bouse  of  Pele. 

25         Lo,  jin  eruption  in  Kabiki  ! 

A  flasbing  of  liglitning,  O  IVle ! 
Beloli  fortli,  O  Pele! 

Tradition  has  it  that  Pele  was  expelled  from  Kahiki  by  her  brothers 
because  of  insubordination,  disobedience,  and  disrespect  to  their 
mother,  īīonti(i-ni('(i^  sacred  land.  (Tf  Pele  in  Kahiki  conducted  her- 
self as  she  has  done  in  Hawaii,  rendinnf  and  scorchin<2:  the  bosom  of 
mother  earth — ITonua-Mea — it  is  not  to  bo  wondei'ed  that  her 
l)r()(liers  were  anxious  to  get  rid  of  her.)     She  voyaged  north.     Her 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE    OF   HAWAII  189 

first  stop  was  at  the  little  island  of  Ka-ula,  belonging  to  the  Hawaiian 
group.  She  tunneled  into  the  earth,  but  the  ocean  poured  in  and  put 
a  stop  to  her  work.  She  had  the  same  experience  on  Lehua,  on 
Niihau,  and  on  the  large  island  of  Kauai.  She  then  moved  on  to 
Oahu,  hoping  for  better  results;  but  though  she  tried  both  sides  of 
the  island,  first  mount  Ka-ala — ^the  fragrant — and  then  Konahuanui, 
she  still  found  the  conditions  unsatisfactory.  She  passed  on  to 
Molokai^  thence  to  Lanai,  and  to  to  AYest  Maiti,  and  East  Maui,  at 
which  last  place  she  dug  the  immense  pit  of  Hale-a-ka-la ;  but  every- 
where she  was  unsuccessful.  Still  journeying  east  and  south,  she 
crossed  the  wide  Ale-nui-haha  channel  and  came  to  Hawaii,  and, 
after  exploring  in  all  directions,  she  was  satisfied  to  make  her  home 
at  Kilauea.  Here  is  {ka  piko  o  ka  honua)  the  navel  of  the  earth. 
Apropos  of  this  effort  of  Pele  to  make  a  fire-pit  for  herself,  see  the 
song  for  the  hula  kuolo  (p.  86),  "A  pit  lies  (far)  to  the  east." 

Mele 

A  Kauai,  a  ke  olewa  «  ilnna, 
Ka  pua  laua  i  kai  o  Wailua ; 
Nana  mai  Pele  ilaila ; 
E  waiho  aku  ana  o  Ahii.^ 
5        Aloha  i  ka  wai  nlu  o  ka  aina ; 
E  ala  mai  ana  mokihana, 
Wai  auau  o  Hiiaka. 
Hoo-paapaa  Pele  ilaila ; 
Aohe  Kan  ^  e  ulu  ai. 
10         Keehi  aku  Pele  i  ka  ale  kua-loloa, 

He  onohi  no  Pele,  ka  oaka  o  ka  lani,  la. 
Eli-eli,  kau  mai  I 

[Translation] 

Song 

To  Kauai,  lifted  in  ether, 
A  floating  flower  at  sea  off  Wailua — 
That  way  Pele  turns  her  gaze. 
She's  bidding  adieu  to  Oahu, 
5        Loved  land  of  new  wine  of  the  palm. 

There  comes  a  perfumed  waft — mokihana — 
The  bath  of  the  maid  Hiiaka. 
Scene  it  was  once  of  Pele's  contention, 
Put  by  for  future  attention. 
10        Her  foot  now  spurns  the  long-backed  wave ; 
The  phosphor  burns  like  Pele's  eye, 
Or  a  meteor-flash  in  the  sky. 
Finished  the  prayer,  enter,  possess  I 

»  Olewa.  Said  to  be  the  name  of  a  wooded  region  high  up  on  the  mountain  of  Kauai. 
It  is  here  treated  as  if  it  meant  the  heavens  or  the  blue  ether.  Its  origin  is  the  same 
with  the  word  leica,  the  upper  regions  of  the  air. 

''  O  Ahu.  In  this  instance  the  article  still  finds  itself  disunited  from  its  substantive. 
To-day  we  have  Oahu  and  Ola'a. 

«^  Kau.  The  summer  ;  time  of  warm  weather  ;  the  growing  season. 


190  BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bill.  38 

The  incidents  and  allusions  in  this  niele  belong  to  the  stoiy  of 
IVle's  journey  in  search  of  Lohiau,  the  lover  she  met  in  her  dreams, 
and  describe  her  as  about  to  take  flight  from  Oahu  to  Kauai  (verse  4). 

lliiaka's  bath,  Wai  auaii  o  Illiaka  (verse  7),  ^vhich  was  the  subject 
of  Pele's  contention  (verse  8),  was  a  spring  of  water  which  Pele  had 
planted  at  Huleia  on  her  arrival  from  Kahiki.  The  ones  with  whom 
Pele  had  the  contention  were  Kukui-lau-manienie  and  Kukui-lau- 
hanahana,  the  daughters  of  Lima-loa,  the  god  of  the  mirage.  These 
two  women  lived  at  Huleia  near  the  spring.  Kamapuaa,  the  swine- 
god,  their  accejited  lover,  had  taken  the  liberty  to  remove  the  spring 
from  the  rocky  bed  where  Pele  had  planted  it  to  a  neighboring  hill. 
Pele  was  offended  and  demanded  of  the  two  women : 

"Where  is  my  spring  of  water?  " 

"  Where,  indeed,  is  your  spring  ?  You  belong  to  Hawaii.  What 
have  you  to  do  wdth  any  spring  on  Kauai  ?  "  w^as  their  answer. 

"  I  planted  a  clean  spring  here  on  this  rock,"  said  Pele. 

"  You  have  no  water  here,*'  they  insisted ;  "  your  springs  are  on 
Hawaii." 

"  If  I  were  not  going  in  search  of  my  husband  Lohiau,"  said  Pele, 
"  I  would  set  that  spring  back  again  in  its  old  place." 

"  You  haven't  the  power  to  do  that,"  said  they.  "  The  son  of 
Kahikiula  (Kama-puaa)  moved  it  over  there,  and  you  can't  undo  his 
action." 

The  eye  of  Pele,  He  onohi  no  Pele  (verse  11),  is  the  phosphor- 
escence A^hich  Pele's  footfall  stirs  to  activity  in  the  ocean. 

The  formal  ending  of  this  mele,  Elieli^  kau  m<2^,  is  often  found  at 
the  close  of  a  mele  in  the  hula  Pele,  and  marks  it  as  to  all  intents  and 
purposes  a  prayer. 

E  waiho  akn  ana  o  Aim  (verse  4).  This  is  an  instance  of  the 
separation  of  the  article  o  from  the  substantive  Ahv,  to  which  it 
l)pcomes  joined  to  form  the  proper  name  of  the  island  now  called 
Oahu. 

Mele 

Ke   amo    la    ke   ko"i    ko   akua    la    i-iika ; 
Ilaki  iiu'a-nn'a  n.ai  ka  nalii  niai   Kahiki, 
Po-po'i  aku  la  i  ke  alo  o  Kilaiiea." 
Kanaka   hoa   i  ka   lakou   jmaa   kaiiu : 
5         lie  waliine  kiii  lei  leliua  i  uka  o  Olaa, 
Kii'u  moku  lehua  i  ke  alo  o  He-eia. 
O   Kukn-ena''  wabine, 
Koiiio  i  ka  lau-ki. 


"The  flffure  In  the  second  and  third  verses,  of  waves  from  Kahiki  {nalu  mai  Kahiki) 
ItfHtin»;  against  the  front  of  Kilauca  (I'o-po'i  aku  la  i  ke  alo  o  Kilauea),  seoms  to  pictur«^ 
flu'  framplinj,'  of  the  nmltiliidc  splasliinK  <h<>  miro  as  if  it  \vpr(>.  waves  of  ocean. 

''  Kukurnn.  There  is  some  uncertainty  as  to  who  this  character  was ;  probably  the 
same  as  Ilaumea,  the  mother  of  I'ele. 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN    LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  191 

A'e-a'e  a  noho. 
10        Eia  makou,  kou  laii  kaula  la. 
Eli-eli,  kau  mai ! 

[Translation] 

Song 

Tliey  bear  the  gocVs  ax  up  the  mountain ; 
Trampling  the  mire,  like  waves  from  Kahiki 
That  beat  on  the  front  of  Kilauea. 
The  people  with  offerings  lift  up  a  prayer; 
5        A  woman  strings  wreaths  in  Olaa — 
Lehua  grove  mine  bord'ring  He-eia. 
And  now  Kukuena,  mother  god, 
Covers  her  loins  with  a  pa-ū  of  ti  leaf ; 
She  mounts  the  altar;  she  sits. 
10         Behold  us,  your  conclave  of  priests. 
Enter  in,  possess  us! 

This  has  the  marks  of  a  Hawaiian  prayer,  and  as  such  it  is  said  to 
have  been  used  in  old  times  by  canoe-builders  when  going  up  into  the 
mountains  in  search  of  timber.  Or  it  may  have  been  recited  by  the 
priests  and  people  Avho  went  up  to  fell  the  lehua  tree  from  which  to 
carve  the  Makahiki «  idol ;  or,  again,  may  it  possibly  have  been  re- 
cited by  the  company  of  hula  folk  who  climbed  the  mountain  in 
search  of  a  tree  to  be  set  up  in  the  halau  as  a  representation  of  the 
god  whom  they  wished  to  honor?  This  is  a  question  the  author 
can  not  settle.  That  it  was  used  by  hula  folk  is  indisputable,  but 
that  would  not  preclude  its  use  for  other  purposes. 

Mele 

Ku  i  Wailua  ka  pou  hale,^ 
Ka  ipu  hoolono  i  ka  uwalo, 
Ka  wawa  uui,  e  Ulupo. 
Aole  uwalo  mai,  e. 
5        Aloha  nui  o  Ikuwa,  Mahoena. 

Ke  lele  la  ka  makawao  o  ka  hinalo. 
Aia  i  Mana  ka  oka'i  o  ka  ua  o  Eleao ; 
Ke  holu  la  ka  a'ahu  o  Ka-u  ^  i  ka  makani ; 
Ke  puhi  a'e  la  ka  ale  kumupali  o  Ka-ii,  Honuapo ; 
10         Ke  hakoko  ka  niu  o  Paiaha'a  i  ka  makani. 
Uki-uki  oukou  : 
Ke  lele  la  ke  kai ; 
Lele  iao,<^  lele! 
O  ka  makani  Koolau-wahine, 

"  For  an  "account  of  the  Makahiki  idol  see  Hawaiian  Antiquities,  p.  189,  by  David 
Malo  ;  translated  by  N.  B.  Emerson,  A.  M.,  M.  D.,  Honolulu,  Hawaiian  Gazette  Company 
(Limited),  1903. 

^  Pou  hale.  The  main  post  of  a  house,  which  is  here  intended,  was  the  pou-hand ;  it 
was  regarded  with  a  superstitious  reverence. 

«^  A'hu  0  Ka-u.     A  reference,  doubtless,  to  the  long  grass  that  once  covered  Ka-u. 

^  J'do.     A  small  fish  that  took  short  flights  in  the  air. 


192  BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  88 

15         O  ka  Moa'e-kii. 

Lele  iia,  lole  kawa  !  » 
•  Lele  aku,  lele  mai ! 

Lele  o-6,^  o-6  lele ;  « 

I^le  opuhi,<*  lele; 
20         Lele  o  KaunA,<^  kalia  oe. 

E  Hiiaka  e,  ku ! 

[Translation] 
»Som/ 

At  Wailna  stands  the  main  house-post; 

This  oracle  harks  to  wild  voices, 

Tumult  and  clamor,  O  Ulu-po; 

It  utters  no  voice  to  entreaty. 
5         Alas  for  the  prophet  that's  dumb  ! 

But  there  drifts  the  incense  of  hala. 

Mana  sees  the  rain-whirl  of  Eleao, 

The  robe  of  Ka-tJ  sways  in  the  wind, 

That  dashes  the  waves  'gainst  the  sea-wall, 
10        At  Honu-apo,  windy  Ka-ti ; 

The  Pai-ha'a  palms  strive  with  the  gale. 

Such  weather  is  grievous  to  you  : 

The  sea-scud  is  flying. 

Fly  little  i-ao,  O  fly 
15         With  the  iM-eeze  Koolau  ! 

Fly  with  the  Moa'e-ku  ! 

Look  at  the  rain-mist  fly ! 

Leap  with  the  cataract,  leap ! 

Plunge,  now  here,  now  there ! 
20         Feet  foremost,  head  foremost ; 

Leap  with  a  glance  and  a  glide ! 

Kauna  opens  the  dance;  you  win. 

Rise,  Hiiaka,  arise  I 

The  meaning  of  this  mele  centers  about  a  phenomenon  that  is  said 
to  have  been  observed  at  Ka-ipti-ha'a,  near  Waikia,  on  Kauai.  To 
one  standing  on  a  knoll  near  the  two  cliffs  IkuAva  and  Mahoena 
(verse  5)  there  came,  it  is  said,  an  echo  from  the  nuirmur  and  clamor 
of  the  ocean  and  the  moan  of  the  wind,  a  confused  mingling  of  na- 
ture's voices.  The  listener,  however,  got  no  echoing  ansAver  to  his 
own  call. 

The  mele  does  not  stick  to  the  unities  as  we  understand  them.  The 
poets  of  old  Hawaii  felt  at  liberty  to  run  to  the  ends  of  their  earth; 
and  the  auditor  must  allow  his  imagination  to  be  transported  sud- 
denly from  one  island  to  another;  in  this  case, "first  from  Wailua  to 

»  Lele  kuira.    To  jump  in  sport  from  a  height  into  the  water. 

''Lele  0-6.    To  It^ap  ff'f't  first  into  tlu'  water. 

«•  f)-6  lele.  To  dive  liead   first  Into   tlie  water. 

(I  Lele  oinihi.  The  same  as  pahi'a,  to  leap  obliquely  into  the  water  from  a  height,  bend- 
ing oneself  so  that  the  feet  come  first  to  the  surface. 

<■  Sauna.  A  woman  of  Ka-u  relebrated  f<)r  b<>r  skill  in  tlie  hula,  also  the  name  of  a 
cape  that  reaches  out  into  the  stormy  ocean. 


EMERSO.x]  UNWRITTEN    LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  193 

Mana  on  the  saiiie  island,  where  he  is  shown  the  procession  of  whirl- 
ing rain  clouds  of  Eleao  (verse  7).  Thence  the  poet  carries  him  to 
Honuapo,  Hawaii,  and  shows  him  the  waves  dashing  against  the 
ocean-walls  and  the  clashing  of  the  palm-fronds  of  Paiaha'a  in  the 
wind. 

The  scene  shifts  back  to  Kauai,  and  one  stands  with  the  j)oet  look- 
ing down  on  a  piece  of  ocean  where  the  people  are  wont  to  disport 
themselves.  (Maka-iwa,  not  far  from  Ka-ipu-ha*a,  is  said  to  be  such 
a  place.)  Verses  12  to  19  in  the  Hawaiian  (13  to  21  in  the  transla- 
tion) describe  the  spirited  scene. 

It  is  somewhat  difficult  to  determine  whether  the  Kauna  mentioned 
in  the  next  poem  is  the  name  of  the  woman  or  of  the  stormj^  cape. 
In  the  mind  of  a  Hawaiian  poet  the  inanimate  and  the  animate  are 
often  tied  so  closely  together  in  thought  and  in  speech  as  to  make  it 
hard  to  decide  which  is  intended. 

Melc  . 

Ike  ia  Kaima-waliiue,  Makaiii  Ka-u, 
He  iimauma  i  pa  ia  e  ka  Moa'e, 
E  ka  makaiii  o-maka  o  Uiiulau. 
Laii  ka  waliiiie  kaili-pua  o  Paia, 
5        Alualu  puhala  o  ka  Milo-pae-kauaka,  e-e-e-e  1 
He  kanaka  ke  koa  no  ka  ehii  aliiahi, 
O  ia  nei  ko  ka  ehu  kakaliiaka — 
O  mana  no,  me  ka  makua  o  makou. 
Ua  ike  'a ! 

[Translation] 

Song 

Behold  Kauna,  tliat  sprite  of  windy  Ka-ii, 
Whose  bosom  is  slapped  by  the  ^loa'e-kū. 
And  that  eye-smiting  wind  Unnlau — 
Women  by  hundreds  filch  the  l)loom 
5        Of  Paia,  hunt  fruit  of  the  hala,  a-ha  ! 
That  one  was  the  gallant,  at  evening. 
This  one  the  hero  of  love,  in  the  morning — 
'Twas  our  guardian   I  had  for  companion. 
Now  you  see  it,  a-ha  I 

This  mele,  based  on  a  story  of  amorous  rivalry,  relates  to  a  contest 
which  arose  between  two  young  women  of  rank  regarding  the  favors 
of  that  famous  Avarrior  and  general  of  Kamehameha,  Kalaimoku, 
whom  the  successful  intrigante  described  as  /.r/  makua  o  makou 
(verse  8),  our  father,  i.  e.,  our  guardian.  The  point  of  view  is  that 
of  the  victorious  intrigante,  and  in  speaking  of  her  defeated  rival  she 
uses  the  ironical  language  of  the  sixth  verse,  Tie  Icaiwha  ke  koa  no  ka 
elia  aliialiu  meaning  that  her  opponent's  chance  of  success  faded  with 
the  evening  twilight,  whereas  her  own  success  was  crowned  with  the 
25352— Bull.  38—09 13 


194  BUREAU    OF    AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bill.  .{S 

t!:low  of  inoniin*»:,  O  ia  tut  ho  ka  ehu  kahahlaka  (verse  7).  The 
epithet  hunaku  hints  ironically  that  her  rival  is  of  lower  rank  than 
herself,  though  in  reality  the  rank  of  her  rival  may  have  been  superior 
to  her  own. 

The  language,  as  i)ointed  out  by  the  author's  informant,  is  marked 
with  an  elegance  that  stamps  it  as  the  product  of  a  courtly  circle. 

MeU 

E  oe  manna  i  ka  ohn, 
Kalia  ka  loo  o  ka  olii'a ; 
Anwe !  make  an  i  ke  alii  a  man 
A  ka  Inabiue"  moe  nana, 
5        A  papa  enaena,  wai  ban, 
A  wa'a  kau-hl.* 

Haila  pepe*'  mna  me  pepo  waeii.!, 
O  pepe  ka  mnimni : 
O  kiele  ^  i  na  nln  ^ 
10        Ka  makaba  kai  kea 
O  Niben*^  kolobe; 
Ka  makaba  kai  kea  ! 
Eli-eli,  kan  mai. 

[Translation] 

IIo  !  monntain  of  Aai)<)r-pnffs. 
Now  jxroans  tlio  nionntain-applo  tree. 
Ahus  !'I  bnrn  in  tliis  deatliloss  flame, 
Tbat  is  fed  by  tbe  woman  who  snores 
5        On  a  lava  plate,  now  bot,  now  cold; 
Now  'tis  a  canoe  fnll-rigged  for  sea  ; 
There  are  seats  at  tbe  bow,  amidships,  abaft; 
Baggage  and  men — all  is  aboard. 


"  I  vie  i.s  often  spoken  of  as  kn  luaJihic,  the  old  woman  :  but  she  frequentlj'  used  hor 
power  of  transformation  to  appear  as  a  young  woman  of  alluring  beauty. 

^*  Lava  poured  out  in  plates  and  folds  and  coils  resembles  may  diverse  things,  among 
others  the  canoe,  ira'a,  here  characterized  as  complete  in  its  appointments  and  ready  for 
launching.  IcaitJii.  The  words  arc  subtly  intcndcnl.  no  doubt,  to  convey  the  thought  of 
Tele's  readiness  to  launch  on  the  voyage  of  matrimony. 

''  Pritr,  a  seat  ;  kicJv.  to  paddle  :  and  uJu,  a  shortened  form  of  the  old  word  otihi,  mean- 
ing a  paddle,  are  archaisms  now  obsolete. 

''  Mliru.  One  of  the  mythological  heroes  of  an  old-time  adventure,  in  which  his  elder 
brother  Kana,  who  had  the  form  of  a  long  rope,  played  the  principal  part.  This  one 
enterprise  of  their  life  in  which  they  joined  forces  was  for  the  rescue  of  their  mother, 
llina.  who  had  been  kidnaped  by  a  marauding  chief  and  carried  from  her  home  in  Hilo 
in  the  bold  headland  of  Ilaupu.  Molokai.  Nih^'u  is  gene4"ally  stigmatized  as  kolnhc 
(verse  11),  mischievous,  for  no  other  i-easou  apparently  than  that  he  was  an  active  spirit, 
full  of  courage,  given  to  :idvonture  ;uid  henven-defying  :uid:icities.  such  as  put  the 
I'olynesiiin  Mnwi  niid  Ibe  (Jreek  IMonieUHMis  In  b:id  odor  with  the  gods  of  their  time.s. 
One  of  these  offensive  actions  was  NilMMi's  theft  of  a  certnln  iilii.  breadfruit,  wliich  one 
i)f  the  gods  rolled  wKli  a  ujdse  lik»'  that  of  thunder  in  the  uiulerground  caverns  of  the 
southern  regions  of  the  world.  Nlheu  Is  represented  .is  :i  great  sport,  an  jithlete.  skilled 
In  all  the  games  of  his  i)eople.  Th«'  woi-st  that  could  be  siiid  of  him  was  that  he  had 
small  reguid  for  other  people's  rights  and  that  he  was  slow  to  pay  his  debts  of  liono" 


BUREAU   OF  AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY 


BULLETIN   38     PLATE   XXI 


PALA-PALAI    FERNS 


KMKusoN]  UNWRITTEN    LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  195 

And  now  the  powerfnl  thrnst  of  the  paddle, 
10         Makhij;  mighty  swirl  of  wat'ry  yeast, 
As  of  Nihen.  the  niischief-nialver — 
A  mighty  swirl  of  the  yeasty  wave. 
In  heaven's  name,  come  aboard ! 

After  the  death  of  Lohiaii,  his  best  friend,  Paoa,  came  before  Pele 
determined  to  invite  death  by  pouring  out  the  vials  of  his  wrath  on 
the  head  of  the  goddess.  The  sisters  of  Pele  sought  to  avert  the 
impending  tragedy  and  persuaded  him  to  soften  his  language  and  to 
forego  mere  abuse.  Paoa,  a  consummate  actor,  by  his  dancing,  which 
has  been  perpetuated  in  the  hula  Pele,  and  by  his  skillfully-worded 
prayer-songs,  one  of  which  is  given  above,  not  only  appeased  Pele, 
but  won  her. 

The  piece  next  appearing  is  also  a  song  that  was  a  prayer,  and 
seems  to  have  been  uttered  by  the  same  mouth  that  groaned  forth  the 
one  given  above. 

It  does  not  seem  necessary  to  take  the  languag-e  of  the  mele  literally. 
The  sufferings  that  the  person  in  the  mele  describes  in  the  first  person, 
it  seems  to  the  author,  may  be  those  of  his  friend  Lohiau ;  and  the  first 
person  is  used  for  literary  effect. 

Mele  « 

Aole  e  mac  ka  ohn  : 
Aiiwe  I  mal^e  an  i  ke  alii  a  mau 
A  ka  wahine  moe  nana, 
A  i)ai)a  ena-ena, 
5        A  wa'a  kau-hi. 

Ilaila  pepe  mua  me  i>epo  waena, 
O  pepe  ka  nui'imu'i, 
O  lei'na  kiele, 
Kan-meli-eli ;  '^ 
10         Ka  maka  kakahi  kea 

0  Xihen  kolohe — 

Ka  maka  Ivaha-kai  kea. 
Eli-el  i,  kau  mai  I 

[Translation] 

Song 

Alas,  there's  no  stay  to  the  smoke: 

1  must  die  mid  the  quenchless  flame — 
Deed  of  the  hag  who  snores  in  her  sleep, 
Redded  on  lava  plate  oven-hot. 

5        Now  it  takes  the  shape  of  canoe; 


"  The  remarks  on  pp.  104  and  10.")  roj^ardins:  tlie  mele  on  p.  104  are  mostly  applical)lo 
to  this  raelo. 

"  Kati-nnli-di.  The  naun'  of  the  duiihle  canoe  which  hroiiglit  a  comijany  of  the  uods 
from  the  lands  of  the  South — Kukulu  o  Kahiki — to  Hawaii.  Hawaiian  myths  refer  to 
several  migrations  of  the  jrods  to  Hawaii ;  one  of  them  is  that  described  in  the  mele 
given  on  p.  187,  the  first  mele  in  this  chapter. 


l\){j  BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [litLL.  38 

JScats  at  tlio  bow  and  aiuidships, 
And  the  steersman  sitting;  astern  ; 
Their  stroke  stirs  the  ocean  to  foam — 
The  myth-craft,  Kan-meli-eli ! 
10         N(»\v   look,  tlie  white  jijleam  ot  an  eye — • 
It  is  XiJieu,  tlie  tnrbnlent  one — 
An  eye  like  tlie  white  sandy  shore. 
Amen,  possess  me ! 

The  mole  now  to  be  given  lias  the  form  of  a  serenade.  Etiquette 
forbade  anyone  to  wake  the  king  b}'  rude  touch,  but  it  was  permissi- 
ble for  a  near  relative  to  touch  his  feet.  When  the  exigencies  of 
business  made  it  necessary  for  a  messenger,  a  herald,  or  a  courtier  to 
disturb  the  sleeping  monarch,  he  took  his  station  at  the  king's  feet 
and  recited  a  serenade  such  as  this : 

Mclc  Iloala     (no  ka  Hula  Pele) 

E  ala,  e  Kahiki-kn  ;  « 
E  ala,  e  Kaliiki-moe;° 
K  ala,  e  ke  ai)ai)a  nn'n  ;  ^ 
K  ala,  e  ke  apapa   lani.^ 
5         lOia  ka  hoala  non,  e  ka  lani  ^  la,  e-e ! 
K  ala  oe ! 

E  ala,  na  ao,  na  malamalama. 

Ala  o  Kape'a  ma,*^  la,  i-luna ; 

Ua  hiki  mai  ka   maka  o  T'nulau;^ 


"  Hawsiiians  conceived  o/  the  dome  of  heaven  as  a  solid  stiMicture  supported  by  walls 
that  rested  on  the  earth's  plain.  Different  names  were  given  to  different  sections  of  the 
wall.  Kahiki'ku  and  Kahiki-moe  were  names  applied  to  certain  of  these  sections.  It 
would,  however,  be  too  much  to  expect  any  Hawaiian,  however  intelligent  and  well  versed 
in  old  lore,  to  indicate  the  location  of  these  regions. 

"The  words  apapn  nii'u  and  apapa  lani.  which  convey  to  the  mind  of  the  author  the 
picture  of  a  series  of  terraced  plains  or  steppes — no  doubt  the  original  meaning — here 
mean  a  family  or  order  of  gods,  not  of  the  highest  rank,  at  or  near  the  head  of  which  stood 
I'ele.     Apropos  of  this  subject  ihe  following  lines  have  been  quoted  : 

Ilanau  ke  apapa  nu"u  : 
Ilanau  ke  apapa  lani  ; 
Hanau  Pele,  ka  hihi'o  na  lani. 

[Translation] 

Begotten  were  the  gods  of  graded  rank; 
Begotten  were  th«'  gods  of  heavenly  rank  ; 
Begotten   was  Tele,  (piintessence  of  heaven. 

This  same  expression  was  sometimes  used  to  mean  an  order  of  chiefs,  alii.  Apnpn  lani 
was  also  used  to  mean  the  highest  order  of  gods,  Kii,  Knur.  Kanahm.  fjoiin.  The  kings 
also  were  gods,  for  which  reason  this  expression  al  times  aRpliod  to  the  alii  of  highest 
rank,  those,   for  Instance,  who  Inherited  the  rank  of  uinit-pi'o  or  of  irohi. 

'■  Ijuni.     Originally  the  heavens,  came  to  mean  king,  chief,  alii. 

'' There  is  ;i  differeiu-e  of  opinion  as  to  the  meaning  of  I\<ipr'(i  ma.  After  hearing  diverse 
opinions  the  author  concludes  that  it  refers  to  the  rays  of  the  sun  that  precede  its 
rising-  a    Creek    Idea. 

«■  rnulati.  .\  nanu'  for  the  trade-wind  wliich.  owing  to  th<>  conformation  of  the  land, 
(*ften  sweeps  down  with  great  force  through  the  deep  valleys  that  seam  the  mountains  of 
west  Muui  between  Luliuiua  aud  Mualaeu  bay  ;  such  a  wind  squall  was  called  a  inumuku. 


RMF.nsoN]  UN  WRITTEN    LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  197 

10         Ko  liool.iJe  luai  l;i  ke  kiipa  holowa'a  o  T'kniiieliame,^ 
Ka  Ij.e  makaui  kaolii-wa'a  o  Papawai,^ 
Ku  lae  luakaiii  o  Aiialienalie  la.  e-e  I 
E  a  la  oe  ! 

E  ala,  na  ao.  iia  malamalama  : 
Ke  o  a'e  la  ke  kukiina  o  ka  La  i  ka  ili  o  ke  kai; 
Ke  liahai  a'e  la,  e  like  me  Knmnkahi  ^ 
K  lioaikane  ana  me  Makanoiii ; 
Ka  papa  o  Apnn,  ua  lolii  i  ka   La. 
K  jila    oe! 

Lin        E  aln,  na  ao,  na  malamalama; 

Ke  kan  akn  la  ka  La  i  Kawaihoa  : 

Ke  kolii  akn  la  ka  La  i  ka  ili  o  ke  kai ; 

Ke  anai  mai  la   ka  iwa  auai-maka  u  Lei-no-ai. 

I  ka  Inna  o  ^L^ka-iki-olea, 
2.'         I  ka  poll  wale  o  Lelina  la. 

E  ala   oe  : 

"  I'Uuinchaiuc.   The  name  of  a  deep  valley  on  west  Maui  in  the  region  above  described. 

^  Papaicai.  The  principal  capo  on  west  Maui  between  Lahaina  and  Maalaea  baj'. 

("  Kumu-kahi.  A  cape  in  I'una.  the  easternmost  part  of  Hawaii;  by  some  said  to  be  the 
sun's  wife,  and  the  object  of  his  enjrer  pursuit  after  coming  out  of  his  eastern  gate 
Ha'eha'e.  The  name  was  also  applied  to  a  pillar  of  stone  th.it  was  planted  on  the 
northern  border  of  this  cape.  Standing  opposite  to  it.  on  the  southern  side,  was  the 
monolith  Makanoni.  In  summer  the  sun  in  its  northern  excursion  inclined,  as  the 
Hawaiians  noted,  to  the  side  of  Kumukahi.  while  in  the  season  of  cool  weather,  called 
Makalii,  it  swung  in  the  opposite  direction  and  passed  over  to  Makanoni.  The  people  of 
Puna  accordingly  said.  "  The  sun  has  passed  over  to  Makanoni,"  or  "  The  sun  has  passed 
over  to  Kumukahi."  as  the  case  might  be.  These  two  pillars  are  said  to  be  of  such  a  form 
as  to  suggest  the  thought  that  they  are  phallic  emblems,  and  this  conjecture  is  strength- 
ened by  consideration  of  the  tabus  connected  with  them  and  of  the  religious  ceremonies 
peformed  before  them.  The  Hawaiians  speak  of  them  as  pohuku  eliOj  which,  the  author 
believes,  is  the  name  given  to  a  phallus,  and  describe  them  as  plain  uncarved  pillars. 

These  stones  were  set  up  in  very  ancient  times  and  are  said  to  have  been  tabu  to 
women  at  the  times  of  their  infirmity.  If  a  woman  climbed  upon  them  at  such  a  period 
or  even  set  foot  upon  the  platform  on  which  one  of  them  stood  she  was  put  to  death. 
Another  stringent  tabu  forbade  anyone  to  perform  an  oflSce  of  nature  while  his  face  was 
turned  toward  one  of  these  pillars. 

The  language  of  the  mele,  Ke  huhai  ae  la  e  like  me  KiimukaJii  (verse  10),  implies  that 
the  sun  chased  after  Kumukahi.  Apropos  of  this  is  the  following  quotation  from  an 
article  on  the  phallus  in  Chambers's  Encyclopedi.i  :  '•  The  common  myth  concerning  it 
[the  phallus]  was  the  story  of  some  god  deprived  of  his  power  of  generation — an  allusion 
to  the  sun,  which  in  autumn  loses  its  fructifying  influence." 

In  modern  times  there  seems  to  have  grown  up  a  curious  mixture  of  traditions  about 
these  two  stones,  in  which  the  old  have  become  overlaid  with  new  superstitions ;  and 
these  last  in  turn  seem  to  be  dying  out.  They  are  now  vaguely  rememl)ere(l  :is  relics  of 
old  demigods,  petrified  forms  of  ancient  kupua*  Fishermen,  it  is  said,  not  long  ago 
offered  sacrifices  to  them,  hoping  thus  to  purchase  good  luck.  Any  offense  against  them, 
such  as  that  by  women,  above  mentioned,  or  by  men,  was  atoned  for  by  offering  before 
these  ancient  monuments  the  first  fish  that  came  to  the  fisherman's  hook  or  net. 

Mention  of  the  name  Kumukahi  to  a  Hawaiian  versed  in  ancient  lore  called  up  to  his 
memory  the  name  of  Pala-moa  as  his  associate.  The  account  this  old  man  gave  of  them 
was  that  they  were  demigods  much  worsliiped  and  feared  for  their  power  and  malignity. 
They  were  reputed  to  be  cnnnibals  on  the  sly,  and.  though  generally  appearing  in  human 
form,  were  canal)le  of  A-arious  metamorphoses,  thus  eluding  detection.  They  were  believed 
to  have  the  power  of  taking  possession  of  men  through  spiritual  obsession,  as  a  result  of 
which  the  ol)sessed  ones  were  enabled  to  heal  sickness  as  well  as  to  cause  it.  to  reveal 
secrets,  and  to  inflict  death,  thus  terrifying  people  beyond  measure.  The  names  of  these 
two  demigods,  especially  that  of  I'alamoa,  are  to  this  day  appealed  to  by  practitioners  of 
the  black  arts. 


*  The    Hawaiian    alphabet    had    no    letter    s.      The    Hawaiians    indlcatf'd    fiu>    plural    by 
j)refixing  the  particle  nti. 


lUS  BUREAU    OF    AMETUCAN    ETHNOLOGY  fniLL.  :?8 

I  TrMIlslM  (lO!l  I 

Soiif/ 

Awako   now.    Knliiki-ku : 
Awjikc  now,    Kahiki-nioe: 
Awjik»',  ye  ^ods  of  lower  jrnulo; 
Aw.'ikc,  ye  jrods  of  lionvcnly  rank, 
r»         A    sorcnadc  to  tluH»,   O    kin;,'. 
Awako  tlioo ! 

Awako.  it  is  day,  it  is  lij;ht: 
The  Day-sod  his  arrows  is  sliootinir, 
T^nulau   his  eye  far-tlasliin^. 
10         Canoe-men   from  Uku-me-hanie 

Are  astir  to  weather  the  windy  cape, 
The  boat-battiinj;  cape.   Papa-wai. 
And  the  boisterous  A-nahe-nahe. 
Awake  thee ! 

15         Awalve,  day  is  come  and  the  lijjht: 

Tlie  sun-rays  stab  the  skin  of  the  deep ; 

It  pursues,  as  did  ^'od  Kumu-kahi 

To  companion  with  ^od  Maka-noni ; 

Tlie  plain  of  Apua  (piivers  witli  lieat. 
20         Awake    thee! 

Awake,   'tis  day.   'tis  lijxht: 
The   sun    stands   over   Waihoa. 
Afloat   on   the   breast   of   ocean: 
The.iwa  of  Leinoai   is  preening 
2r>         On    the    cliff   Maka-iki-olea, 

On  the  breast  of  naked  I^ehua. 
Awake    tliee !    awake! 

The  folloAving  is  a  prayer  said  to  have  been  used  at  the  time  of  awa- 
di-inkiiiir-  AVlien  o-iveii  in  the  hula,  the  autlioi'  is  infoi'nied.  its  recita- 
tion was  acconij^anied  l)y  tlie  sonnd  of  the  drum. 

Jlr   rule  II»   I'ric 
TALK   I 

O  Tele  la  ko'u  akua  : 
Miha  ka  lani,  miha  k.i   lionua. 
Awa    iku,  awa   lani  : 
Kai  awaawa,  ka  awa  nui  a   lliiaka, 
5         I   kua   i   Mauli-ola  ;  « 


"  \f(iiili-(i1o.  A  pod  of  Iienlth  :  porliMjjs  also  tho  nnnie  of  a  place.  The  same  word  also 
was  applied  to  the  breath  of  life,  or  to  the  physicians  power  of  healinj;.  In  the  Maori 
tons'ie  the  word  maini.  corres|)ondin;r  to  nniiili.  nio;ins  life,  rhe  seat  of  life,  in  Samoan 
tiie  w«»r<l  iiKiiili  means  heart.  "Sneeze,  living'  lieart  '"  (Tihc  nuniri  oni  \ .  s.-iys  tiie  Maori 
iiudlirr  to  her  infant  when  it  snee/.t's.  I'or  tliis  hit  of  .Maori  lore  nc  Un<»\vle(li,Miieni  is 
«liie  to  \U.  S.    I'ercy   Smitii.  of  New   Zial.ind. 


kmkrson]  UNWRTTTEX    LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  199 

He  awa  kapn  no  iia  waliiiif. 
E  kapii  I  * 

Ku'i  kapu  kou  awa,  o  I'olo  a  Honna-mea ; 
E  kala,  e  Haumea  waliiiie, 
10         O  ka  wabiiie  i  Kilauea, 

Nana  i  eli  a  liobonu  ka  lua 
O  Mau-waliine,  o  Knpii-eiia, 
O  na  wahine  i  ka  imi-haiia  awa. 
E  ola  na  'kua  nialihini !  " 

PALE    II 

15         I  kama'a-ma'a  la  i  ka  piia-lei ; 
E  loa  ka  wai  apiia, 
Ka  pii'na  i  Kii-ka-la-ula  ;  ^ 
Hoopnka  aku  i  Pnu-leua, 
A  ilia  a  ke  Akua  i  iiolio  ai. 

20        Kanaenae  a  ke  Akua  nialihini:'' 
O  ka'u  wale  ilio  la  no  ia,  o  ka  leo, 
He  leo  wale  no,  e-e ! 
E  ho-i ! 
Eia  ka  ai ! 

[Translation] 

.1  Prniicr  ta  Pcle 
CANTO   I 

Lo,  Pele's  the  ^od  of  my  choice: 
Let  heaven  and  earth  in  silence  wait. 
Here  is  awa.  jiotent,  sacred, 
Hitter  sea,  j?reat  Hiiaka's  root; 
n         'Twas  cut  at  Mauli-ola — 

Awa  to  the  women  forhidilen, 
Let  it  tabu  be ! 

Exact  be  the  rite  of  your  awa, 
O  Pele  of  the  sacred  land. 


"  According  to  one  authoiitj-,  at  the  close  of  the  first  canto  the  «tranger  gods — akua 
malihini — who  consisted  of  that  multitude  of  godlings  called  the  Kini  Akua,  took  their 
departure  from  the  ceremony,  since  they  did  not  belong  to  the  Tele  family.  Internal 
evidence,  however,  the  study  of  the  prayer  itself  in  its  two  parts,  leads  the  writer  to 
disagree  with  this  authority.  Other  Hawaiians  of  equally  deliberate  judgment  support 
him  in  this  opinion.  The  etiquette  connected  with  ceremonious  awa-drinking.  which 
the  Samoans  of  to-day  still  maintain  in  full  form,  long  ago  died  out  in  Hawaii.  This 
etiquette  may  never  have  been  cultivated  liere  to  the  same  degree  as  in  its  home,  Samoa  ; 
but  this  poem  is  evidence  that  the  ancient  Hawaiians  paid  -reater  attention  to  it  than 
they  of  modern  times.  The  reason  for  this  decline  of  ceremony  must  be  sought  for  in 
the  mental  and  esthetic  make-up  of  the  Hawaiian  people  :  it  was  not  due  to  any  lack  of 
fondness  in  the  Hawaiian  for  awa  as  a  beverage  or  as  an  into.vicant.  It  is  no  lielp  to 
beg  the  question  by  ascribing  the  decline  of  this  etiquette  to  the  influence  of  social  cus- 
tom. To  do  so  would  but  add  one  more  link  to  the  chain  that  binds  cause  to  effect.  The 
Hawaiian  mind  was  not  favorable  to  the  observance  of  this  sort  of  etiquette;  it  did  not 
aflford  a  soil  fitted  to  nourish  such  an  artificial  growth. 

''The  meaning  of  the  word  Ku-ku-la-ulu  presented  great  difficulty  and  defied  all  attempts 
at  translation  until  the  suggestion  was  made  by  a  bright  Hawaiian,  which  was  adopted 
with  satisfaction,  that  it  probably  referred  to  that  state  of  dreamy  mental  exaltation 
which  come.s  with  awa-intoxication.  This  condition,  like  that  of  frenzy,  of  madness,  and 
of  idiocy,  the  Hawaiian  regarded  as  a  divine  possession. 


2{){)  nUHEAU    OF    AMKHICAX    ETHNOLOGY  [  in  i.l.  S8 

10         I'rocljiiin  it,  luothor,  Ilnnnioa, 

Of  tlio  j^oddcss  of  KiljMR'U  ; 

She  wlx)  (111.:;  tlio  l)il  world -deep, 

And  Mau-wahiiie  and  Kni»n-ena, 

Who  prepare  the  awa  for  drhik. 
rlT)         A  lioaltli  to  the  slrani^er  gods! 

CANTO   II 

liodoc'k  now  tlie  hoard  for  llie  feast  ; 
Fill  np  the  last  Im.wI  1o  Ihe  hrini  ; 
Then  pour  a  diauLrlit  in  llie  siin-ca\e 
Shall   l!ow  1o  tlu»  mellow  haze. 
20         That  tints  tlie  land  of  tlie  j;ods. 

All  hail  to  the  stranjjer  .gods! 
This  my  offering,  simply  a  voice, 
Only  a  welcoming  voice. 
Turn  in ! 
25         Lo,  tlie  feast! 

This  pra^'er,  though  presented  in  t^yo  parts  or  cantos,  is  really  one, 
its  i)urpose  being  to  otfer  a  welcome,  kanaenae,  to  the  feast  and  cere- 
mony to  the  gods  Avho  had  a  riglit  to  expect  that  courtes}-. 

One  more  mele  of  the  innnber  specially  used  in  the  hula  Pele: 

Meīe 

Nou   paha   e,   ka    inoa 
E  Ica'i-ka'i  ku  ana, 
A  kan  1  ka  nnkn. 
E   hapa-hapai    a'e, 
5  .      A  pa   i  ke  kihi 

0  Ki-lan-e-a. 

1  la  i  la  kn'u  kama, 
O  Kn-nni-akea." 
Ilookomo  a'e  iloko 

30        A  o  Ilale-ma'n-ma'ii ;  ^ 
A  ma-n  na  pn'n 
•  E  ola-ola  nei. 

E    knlii)e'e    nni    ai-ahna/ 
E  Pele,  e  Pele! 
15         E  Pele,  e  Pele! 

Ilnai'na  !  hnai'na  ! 
Ku  i:i  ka   laiii, 
Pae  a  huila  ! 


"  Kalakaun.  for  whom  all  tl;oyo  fine  words  aro  intondod.  could  no  more  claim  kinship 
will»  Ku-mii-akea.  tlie  son  of  Kau-i-ke-aouli,  llian  with  .Julius  Csesar. 

''  Halc-iiKiii-iiKiu.  I'scd  liKiirativcly  of  the  mouth,  whose  hairy  frinj;»' — moustache  and 
beard — ti;ives  It  a  fancied  resemblance  to  the  rouj^h  lava  i)it  wjiere  I'eie  dwelt.  The  fijjure. 
to  us  no  doubt  ol)scure.  conveyed  to  the  II:iw:iii:in  the  idea  of  trumpet injr  the  name  and 
m.'jkinjr  it    famous. 

"  E  kttli-pe'e  »w/  ni-nhua.  I'ele  is  here  ti,s,'ured  as  an  old.  infirm  woman,  crouching  and 
crawling:  alonj;;  a  chara«'ter  and  attitude  .iscrlbed  to  her.  no  doubt,  from  the  fancied 
resemblance  of  a  lava  flow,  which,  wlien  in  the  form  of  an,  rolls  and  tumbles  alonj?  over 
the  surface  of  the  f,'round  in  a  manner  suj,'j;estive  of  the  motions  and  attitude  of  a 
[talsled  crone. 


KMnitsoN]  UNWKTTTEN    LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  201 

[Translation] 

Yours,  doubtless,  this  name. 

Which  people  are  toastiiiir 

With  loudest  acclaim. 

Now  raise  it,  aye  raise  it, 
5         Till  it  reaches  the  niches 

Of  KMau-e-a. 

Enshrined   is  there  niy  kinsman, 

Ku-ntii-akea. 

Then  jjive  it  a  place 
10  .      In  the  temi)le  of  Pele: 

And  a  bowl  for  the  throats 

That  are  croakini?  with  thirst. 

Knock-kneed  eater  of  land, 

C)  Pele,  j,'od  Tele! 
15         O  Pele,  ^od  Pele! 

Burst  forth  now  !  burst  forth  ! 

Launch  a  bolt  from  the  sky  I 

Let  thy  liirhtnings  fly  1 

When  this  poem "  first  came  into  the  author's  hands,  though  at- 
tracted by  its  classic  form  and  vigorous  style,  he  could  not  avoid  being- 
repelled  by  an  evident  grossness.  An  old  Hawaiian,  to  whom  he 
stated  his  objections,  assured  him  that  the  mele  was  innocent  of  all 
bad  intent,  and  when  the  offensive  word  was  pointed  out  he  protested 
that  it  was  an  interloper.  The  substitution  of  the  right  word  showed 
that  the  man  was  correct.  The  offense  Avas  at  once  removed.  This 
set  the  whole  poem  in  a  new  light  and  it  is  presented  with  satisfaction. 
The  mele  is  properly  a  name-song,  mele-inoa.  The  poet  represents 
some  one  as  lifting  a  name  to  his  mouth  for  praise  and  adulation. 
He  tells  him  to  take  it  to  Kilauea — that  it  may  reecho,  doubtless,  from 
the  walls  of  the  crater. 


n  It  is  said  to  be  tlie  work  of  a  hula-master,  now  some  years  dead,  by  the  name  of 
Namakeelna. 


XXV.— TIIK    IIFLA    PA'I-rMA!\MA 

The  1  nla  jHi'J-ununnna — chest -beat  in*»-  hula — called  also  hula  P(i- 
lani,"  was  an  energetic  dance,  in  which  the  actors,  who  were  also  the 
sin<»:ers.  maintained  a  kneelin<>-  j)osition,  with  the  buttocks  at  times 
resting  on  the  heels.  In  spite  of  the  restrictions  imposed  by  this 
attitude,  they  managed  to  put  a  spirited  action  into  the  performance; 
there  were  vigorous  gestures,  a  frequent  smiting  of  the  chest  with  the 
(»pen  hand,  and  a  strenuous  movement  of  the  pelvis  and  lower  part  of 
tlie  body  called  (tmi.  This  consisted  of  rhythmic  motions,  sidewise, 
backward,  forward,  and  in  a  circular  or  elliptical  orbit,  all  of  which 
was  done  with  the  precision  worthy  of  an  acrobat,  an  accomplish- 
ment attained  only  after  long  practice.  It  was  a  hula  of  classic 
celebiity.  and  was  performed  without  the  accompaniment  of  instru- 
mental music. 

In  the  mele  now  to  be  given  the  poet  calls  up  a  succession  of  pic- 
tures by  imagining  himself  in  one  scenic  position  after  another,  be- 
gimiing  at  Hilo  and  passing  in  order  from  one  island  to  another — 
omitting,  however.  Maui — until  he  finds  himself  at  Kilauea.  an  his- 
toric and  traditionally  interesting  place  on  the  windward  coast  of 
the  garden-island.  Kauai.  The  order  of  travel  followed  by  the  ])oet 
forbids  the  supposition  that  the  Kilauea  mentioned  is  the  great  cal- 
(lera  of  the  volcano  on  Hawaii  in  which  Pele  had  her  seat. 

It  is  useless  to  regret  that  the  poet  did  not  jiermit  his  muse  to  tarry 
by  the  way  long  enough  to  give  us  something  more  than  a  single 
eyeshot  at  the  (piickly  shifting  scenes  which  unrolled  themselves  be- 
fore him.  that  so  he  might  have  given  us  further  reminiscence  of  the 
lands  over  Avhich  his  Pegasus  l)ore  him.  Such  completeness  of  view, 
however,  is  alien  to  the  poesy  of  Hawaii. 


"  PnMni.  French,  so  called  at  Mo.umlna  Itocaiiso  a  woman  who  was  its  chief  exponent 
was  a  Catholic,  one  of  the  "  i)oe  I'alAni.'  Much  odium  has  heon  laid  to  the  charjye  of  the 
liula  on  account  of  the  supposed  indecency  of  the  motion  tei-nu'd  niui.  There  can  he  no 
doubt  that  the  ami  was  at  times  used  to  represent  actions  untlt  for  public  view,  and  so  far 
I  lie  blame  is  just.  I'.ut  the  ami  did  not  necessarily  nor  always  represent  obscenity,  and  to. 
Ibis  cxlciil    llic   bula    lias  l)ecii   unjustly    niali;:ncd. 

L'UL' 


EMEKSON]  UNWRTTTEN    LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  203 

Mrlr 

A  Ililo  ail  e,  JkmiIuIu  ka  lolma  ;  " 
A  Wai-luku  la,  i  ka  Liia-kanaka  ;  ^ 
A  Lele-iwi  ^  la,  an  i  ke  kai; 
A  Pana-ewa,<^  i  ka  nlii-leliiia ; 
5        A  Ha-ili,^  i  ke  kula-iiiaini ; 
A  MoJogai,  i  ke  ala-kalii, 
Ke  kula  o  Kala'e/  \vela  i  ka  la ; 
Maiiiia-loa^  la.  Ka-liia-ko"i.''  e; 
Na  bala  o  Nihoa,'  lie  iiiaimna  la; 
10        A  Ko'i-ahi  •'  an,  ka  maile  lau-lii  la ; 
A  Makua  ^"^  la,  i  ke  one  oino-pio,' 
E  holu  aua  ke  kai  o-lalo; 
He  wahliie  a-po'i-ix)'i  "'  e  iioho  ana, 
A  Kilanea,"  i  ke  awa  nla. 

[Translation] 
Song 

At  Hilo  I  rendezvoused  with  the  lehiia ; 
By  the  Wailuku   stream,  near  the  robber-den ; 
Off  cape  Lele-iwi  I  swam  in  the  ocean  : 
At  Pana-ewa,  mid  groves  of  lehna  : 
5        At  Ha-ili,  a  forest  of  flocking  birds. 

On  Molokai  I  travel  its  one  highway; 
I  saw  the  plain  of  Kala'e  quiver  with  heat, 
And  beheld   the  ax-quarries  of  ^launa-loa. 
Ah,  the  i)erfume  Nihoa's  pandanus  exhales ! 
10         Ko'i  ahi.   home  of  the   small-leafed   maile; 
And  now  at  Makua,  lo,  its  virgin  sand. 
While  ocean  surges  and  scours  on  below. 
Lo,  a  woman  crouched  on  the  shore  by  the  sea. 
In  the  brick-red  bowl,  Kilauea's  bay. 

"  Lehiia.  A  tree  that  produces  the  tufted  scarlet  flower  that  is  sacred  to  the  jroddess  of 
the  hula.   Laka. 

*  Lua-kandka.  A  deep  and  dangerous  crossing  at  the  Wailuku  river,  which  is  said  to 
have  heen  the  cause  of  death  by  drowning  of  very  manj-.  Another  story  is  that  it  was 
once  the  hiding  place  of  robbers. 

*■  Leie-iici.  The  name  of  a  cape  at  Hilo,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Wai-luku  river — water  of 
destruction. 

«*  Pana-eica.  A  forest  region  in  Ola'a  much  mentioned  in  myth  and  poetry. 

«  Haili.  A  region  in  Ola'a.  a  famous  resort  for  bird-catchers. 

f  Ka-la't.  A  beautiful  place  in  the  uplands  back  of  Kaunakakai,  on  Molokai. 

"  lluuna-loa.  The  mountain  in  the  western  part  of  Molokai. 

^  Ka-Uia-ko'i.  A  place  on  this  same  Mauna-loa  where  was  quarried  stone  suitable  for 
making  the  Hawaiian  ax. 

*  Xihoa.  A  small  land  near  Kalaupapa,  Molokai,  where  was  a  grove  of  fine  pandanus 
trees. 

J  Ko'i-nhi.  A  small  valley  in  the  district  of  Waianae,  Oahu,  where  was  the  home  of  the 
small-leafed  maile. 

*■■  Maktiu.   A  valley  in  Waianae. 

'  One  opio-pio.  Sand  freshly  smoothed  by  an  ocean  wave. 

•"  Apo'i-po'i.  To  crouch  for  the  purpose,  perhaps,  of  screening  oneself  from  view,  as  one, 
for  instance,  who  is  naked  and  desires  to  escape  observation. 

"  Klhiuea.  There  is  some  doubt  whether  this  is  the  Kilauea  on  Kauai  or  a  little  place  of 
the  same  name  near  cape  Kaena,  the  westernmost  point  of  Oahu. 


204  BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  fnrLL.  r.S 

In  tlio  noxt  mole  to  he  «ifiveii  it  is  evident  that,  though  the  motive 
is  cU'iu'ly  Hawaiian,  it  has  h)st  something  of  the  rugged  simplicity 
and  impersonality  that  helonged  to  the  most  archaic  style,  and  that 
it  has  taken  on  the  sentimentality  of  a  later  period. 

Melc 

E  Manono  In,  o-a, 
K  MaiioiH)  l.M,  o-a, 
Kail  k:i  6]»(M')pe; 
Ka  iilii  liala  la,  o-a, 
5         Ka  iiluho  la,  o-a. 
Ka  uliilie  la,  o-a, 
A  biki  Pn'ii-nanā., 
Hali'i  piināna 
No  huli  niai. 

10         Huli   niai   o-o  la; 

Moo  kaiia  ; 

Hali'i    punana 

No  huli  mai. 

Huli   niai  o-e  la; 
15         Moo   kaua  ; 

Moo  aku    kaua ; 

O  ka  wai  welawela, 

O  ka  papa  lobi 

O  Mau-kele; 

20        Moe  aku  kaua  : 

O  ka  wai  welawela, 

O  ka  papa  lolil 

O  ^lau-kele. 

A  kelo,   a   kolo 
25         Kou  luanao  la,  o-a ; 

A  kele,   a   kele 

Kou  manao  la,  o-a. 

[Translation] 

SoiKj 

Como  now,  Manono, 
Come,  Manono,  I  say. 
Take  up  the  burden ; 
Tbrou^b  jrroves  of  pandanus 
5         And  wild  staj,'-born  fern. 

Woai'isonio  fern,  lies  our  way. 
Arrived  at  the  bill-top, 
We'll  sinootb  out  tlio  nest. 
That  wo  may  siiuj;  closo. 

10        Turn  now  lo  me.  dear, 
Wbilo  wo  rest  bore. 
Mako  wo  a  little  nest. 
That  wo  may  draw  near. 
This  wav  your  face,  doar. 


EMEKSON]  UNWRITTEN    LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  205 

15  While  we  rest  here. 

Rest  thon  and  I  here. 
Near  the  warm,  warm  water 
And   the  smooth   lava-plate 
Of  Mau-kele. 

20  Rest  thou  and  I  here. 

By  the  water  so  warm, 

And   the   lava-plate   smooth 

Of  Mau-kele. 

Little  by   little 
25  Your  thoujrhts  will   l>e  mine. 

Little   by    little 

Your   thoughts   I'll  divine. 

^lanono  was  the  name  of  the  brave  woman,  wife  of  Ke-kua-o-ka- 
hini.  who  fell  in  the  battle  of  Kiiamo  o,  in  Kona,  Hawaii,  in  1819, 
fighting  by  the  side  of  her  husband.  They  died  in  support  of  the 
cause  of  law  and  order,  of  religion  and  tabu»,  the  cause  of  the  conserv- 
ative party  in  Hawaii,  as  opposed  to  license  and  the  abolition  of 
all  restraint. 

The  ulahe  (verses  5,  6)  is  the  stag-horn  fern,  which  forms  a  matted 
oTowth  most  obstructive  to  woodland  travel. 

The  burden  ^lanono  is  asked  to  bear,  what  else  is  it  but  the  burden 
of  life,  in  this  case  lightened  by  love? 

Whether  there  is  any  connection  between  the  name  of  the  hula — 
breast-beating — and  the  expression  in  the:  first  verse  of  the  following 
mele  is  more  than  the  author  can. say. 

Mele 

Ka-hipa,"  na  wain  olewa, 
Lele  ana,  ku  ka  mahiki  akea ; 
Keke  ka  uiho  o  Lani-wahine;  ^ 
Opi  ke  a  lalo,  ke  a  luna. 
5        A  hoi   aku   au   i   Lihue, 
Nana  aku  la  Ewa ; 
E  au  ana  o  Miko-lo-lou,'^ 

.  "  Ka-ltiiJii.  Said  to  be  the  name  of  a  mythological  character,  now  applied  to  a  place  in 
Kahukii  where  I  lie  mountains  present  the  form  of  two  female  breasts. 

^  Lani-wahinc.  A  benignant  nw'o,  or  water-nymph,  sometimes  taking  tlie  form  of  a 
woman,  that  is  said  to  have  haunted  the  lagoon  of  Uko'a,  Waialua,  Oahu.  There  is  a  long 
story  about  her. 

*■  Miko-lo-lou.  A  famous  man-eating  shark-god  whose  home  was  in  the  waters  of  liana, 
;Maui.  He  visited  Oahu  and  was  hospitably  received  by  Ka-ahu-pahau  and  Ka-hi'u-ka, 
bharks  of  the  Ewa  lagoons,  who  had  a  human  ancestry  and  wore  on  friendly  terms  with 
their  kindred.  Miko-lo-l«iu,  when  his  hosts  denied  him  human  flesh,  helped  himself.  In 
the  conflict  that  rose  the  Ewa  sharks  joined  with  their  human  relatives  and  friends  on 
land  to  put  an  end  to  Miko-lo-lou.  After  a  fearful  contest  they  took  him  and  reduced 
his  body  to  ashes.  A  dog,  Jiowever.  snatched  and  ate  a  portion — some  say  the  tongue, 
.some  the  tail — and  another  part  fell  into  the  water.  This  was  reanimated  by  the  spirit  of 
the  dead  shark  and  grew  to  be  a  monster  of  the  same  size  and  power  as  the  one  deceased 
Miko-lo-lou  now  gathered  his  friends  and  allies  from  all  the  waters  and  made  war  against 
the  Ewa  sharks,  but  was  routed. 


206  BUREAU    OF    AMKKH'AN    K'lllNOLOGY  [bull.  :{8 

A  pahu  ka  naaii  no  Pa-pi'-o." 

A  pa'a  ka  iiian6. 
10         Uo\)U  i  ka  lima. 

Ai  pakalii,  e,  i  ka  iiahele,'' 

Alawa  a'e  ua  ulii  kaiii  <>  Loiwalo. 

E  iiolu)  ana  Kolea-kani  '' 

Ka  i)ii'na  i  ka   Uwa-Ina  : 
15         Oha-olia  loi  i  ka  niakani. 

tTranshition] 
Son  (J 

'Tis  Kaliii)a,  with  ijendnlons  l)roasts; 
How  they  swint;  to  and  fro,  see-saw  ! 
The  teeth  of  Lani-waliine  gape — 
A  truce  to  upi^r  and  lower  jaw  ! 
5         From  Lihne  we  look  upon  Ewa ; 

There  swam  the  monster,  Miko-lo-16u, 
His  howels  torn  out  hy  I*a-pi"-o. 
The  shark  was  caught  m  grip  of  the  hand. 
Let  each  one  stay  himself  with  wild  herbs, 
10         And  for  comfort  tin-n  his  hungry  eyes 
To  the  rustling  trees  of  Lei-walo. 
Hark  !  the  whistling-plover — her  old-time  seat. 
As  one  climbs  the  hill  from  Echo-glen, 
And  cools  his  brow  in  the  breeze. 

'^riie  thread  of  interest  that  holds  together  the  separate  pictures 
composing  this  mele  is  slight.  It  will,  perhaps,  give  to  the  whole  a 
more  definite  meaning  if  we  recognize  that  it  is  made  up  of  snap- 
shots at  various  objects  and  localities  that  presented  themselves  to 
one  passing  along  the  old  road  from  Kahiiku,  on  Oahu,  to  the  high 
land  Avhich  gave  the  tired  traveler  his  first  distant  view  of  Honolulu 
before  he  entered  the  winding  canyon  of  Moana-lua. 

"  J'a-pV-o.  A  shark  of  moderate  size,  l)ut  of  great  activity,  that  fought  against  Miko-lo- 
lAu.  It  entered  his  enormous  mouth,  passed  down  into  his  stomach,  and  there  phiyed 
liavoc   with   the  monster,   eating   its   waj-   out. 

'' .M  pakalii,  c,  i  /c<i  ruihclr.  The  company  represented  hy  the  poet  to  he  journeying  pass 
through  an  uninhahitcd  region  harren  of  food.  The  poet  calls  upon  them  to  satisfy  their 
Inuiger  l)y  eating  of  the  edihle  wild  herhs — they  ahound  everywhere  in  Hawaii— at  the 
same  time  representing  them  as  casting  longing  glances  on  the  hreadfruit  trees  of  Lei- 
walo.     This  was  a  grove  in  the  lower  levels  of  Ewa  that  still  survives. 

*■  Koīeo-kani.  A  female  kupua — witch  she  might  he  called  now — that  had  the  form  of  a 
plover.  She  looked  after  the  thirsty  ones  who  passed  along  the  road,  and  benevolently 
showed  them  where  to  find  water.  Hy  her  example  the  people  of  the  district  are  said  to 
have  been  induced  to  give  refreshment  to  travelers  who  went  that  way. 


XXVL— THK  HULA  KUI  .AIOLOKAI 

The  hula  Iciri  Molokai  Avas  a  variety  of  the  Hawaiian  dance  that 
originated  on  the  island  of  Molokai,  i:)robabl3'  at  a  later  period  than 
what  one  would  call  the  classic  times.  Its  performance  extended  to 
the  other  islands.  The  author  has  information  of  its  exhibition  on 
the  island  of  its  name  as  late  as  the  last  quarter  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  The  actors,  as  they  might  be  called,  in  this  hula  were 
arranged  in  pairs  who  faced  each  other  and  went  through  motions 
similar  to  those  of  boxing.  This  action,  I'irL  to  smite,  gave  the  name 
to  the  performance.  The  limiting  word  Molokai  was  added  to  dis- 
tinguish it  from  another  still  more  modern  form  of  dance  called 
ki/i,  which  will  be  described  later. 

While  the  performers  stood  and  went  through  with  their  motions, 
marching  and  countermarching,  as  they  are  said  to  have  done,  they 
chanted  or  recited  in  recitative  some  song,  of  which  the  following 
is  an  example.     This  they  did  with  no  instrumental  accompaniment  : 

MeJc 

He  a  la   k.Ti   olobin." 
He  hiwaliiwa  na  ka  la'i  In.ihinc. 
He  me"  aloba  ua'ii  ka  iiiakani  Laiiai-loli.'' 
E  nwe  ana  i  ke  kai  pale  ilia  hi. 
r>         Kauwa  ke  aloha  1  iia  lehiia  o  Kaaiia.' 
Pomaikai  an  i  kon  aloha  e  noho  nei : 
Ka   halnkn   wale  no   ia   a   ka   wainiaka. 
Me   be   makamaka    puka    a    la 
Ke  aloha  i  ke  kanaka. 
10         E  bo-iloli  nei  i  ku'n  nni  kino. 
Mabea  hoi  an.  aV 
Ma   ko  oe  alo  no. 

"  Kci  ojohia.  A  calm  and  tranquil  sea.  This  expression  has  gained  a  poetic  vogue  that 
almost  makes  it  pass  current  as  a  single  word,  meaning  tran(j\iillity.  calmness  of  mind. 
As  thus  explained,  it  is  here  translated  by  the  expression  •"  hearts-ease." 

'' Makani  hanai-loli.  A  wind  so  gentle  as  not  to  prevent  the  heche  de  mer  (loin,  sea- 
anemones,  and  other  marine  slugs  from  coming  out  of  their  holes  to  feed.  A  similar 
(igure  is  used  in  the  next  line  in  the  expression  kai  pair  Uiahi.  The  thought  is  that  the 
calmness  of  the  ocean  invites  one  to  strip  and  plunge  in  for  a  hath. 

''  Kaiiica  kr  aloha  i  na  Irhua  o  Kaana.  Kaana  is  said  to  be  a  hill  on  the  road  from 
Keaau  to  Olaa.  a  spot  where  trjtvelers  were  wont  to  rest  and  where  they  not  infrequently 
made  up  wreaths  of  the  scarlet  lehua  l)loom  which  there  .-ihounded.  It  took  :i  large  num- 
ber of  lehua  flowers  to  suthce  for  a  wreath,  and  to  bind  them  securely  to  the  tillet  that 
made  them  a  garland  was  :i  work  demanding  not  only  artistic-  skill  but  time  and  patience. 
If  a  weary  traveler,  halting  at  Kaana.  employed  his  time  of  rest  in  plaiting  tl«»wers  into 
a  wreath  for  some  loved  one.  there  would  be  truth  as  welj  as  poetry  iu  the  .saying.  **  Ijove 
slaves  for  the  lehuas  of  Kaana." 

207 


208  liUKEAU    OF    AMKHICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

LTranslatiou  J 

rivcioiis  the  j;ift  of  lieurfs-ease, 
A  wreath  for  the  cheerful  dame; 
So  dear  to  uij'  heart  is  the  breeze 
That  iiiiiruuirs,   strip  for  the  ocean. 
T)         Love  slaves  for  wreaths  from    Kaana. 
I'll)  blest  ill  your  love  that  reijriis  here; 
It  speaks  in  the  fall  of  a    tear — 
The  choicest  thing  in  one's  life. 
This  love  for  a  niau  by  his  wife — 
10         It  has  i)()wer  to  shake  the  whole  frame. 
Ah,  where  jun   1   now'.'' 
Here,  face  to  your  face. 

Tlie  platitiulos  of  mere  seiitinieiitalisni,  when  put  into  cold  print, 
arc  not  stimulating  to  the  imagination;  moods  and  states  of  feeling 
often  approaching  the  morbid,  their  oral  expression  needs  the  reen- 
forcement  of  voice,  tone,  countenance,  the  whole  attitude.  They  are 
for  this  reason  most  difficult  of  translation  and  when  rendered  liter- 
ally into  a  foreign  speech  often  become  meaningless.  The  figures 
employed  also,  like  the  watergourds  and  wine-skins  of  past  genera- 
tions and  of  other  peoj^les,  no  longer  appeal  to  us  as  familiar  objects, 
but  require  an  effort  of  the  imagination  to  make  them  intelligible  and 
vivid  to  our  mental  vision.  ,  If  the  translator  carries  these  figures  of 
speech  over  into  his  new  rendering,  they  will  often  demand  an  expla- 
nation on  their  own' account,  a'nd  will  thus  fail  of  their  original 
intent ;  while  if  he  clothes  the  thought  in  some  new  figure  he  takes 
the  risk  of  failing  to  do  justice  to  the  intimate  meaning  of  the  origi- 
nal. The  force  of  these  remarks  will  become  ai)parent  from  an 
analysis  of  the  prominent  figures  of  speech  that  occur  in  the  mele. 

J/c/c 

He  inoa  no  ka  Lani, 
No  Nahi-cna-cna  : 
A  ka   luna  o  wahine. 
Ilo'i  ka  eiia  a   ka  makani; 
5         Xoho  ka   la'i    i   ka   malino — 
Makani  ua  ha-ao; 
Ko  ke  an  i  ha  la,  ea. 
IMinawai  o  Mana," 
Wai  ola  na  ke  kupa 
10         A  ka   ilio  nana, 

Hae,  nanahn  i  ke  kai ; 
Ehu  kai  nana  ka  i)na, 
Ka   pna  <»  ka    llian. 


"  I'littnirni    n    \ftinii.   A    spritiR    «>f    wator    ;it    Ilonuapo.    Hawaii,    wliich    bubbled    up    at 
su«'li  a  level  that  the  ocean  covered  it  at  high  tide. 


EMEKbuxJ  UNWBlTTEif    LITEKATUKE   UF   HAWAII  209 

Ka  ohai  o  Mar»ei)e,« 
15        Ka  moeiia  we'u-we"ii, 

I  ulaua  ia  e  ke  A*e, 

Ka  naku  loloa. 

Hea  mai  o  Kawek»-hea,* 

Xawai  la,  e,  ke  kai»uV 
20         No  Xahi-^na-ena. 

Ella  iia  pua  i  ka  w.ji. 

Wai  au  o  Holei. 

I  Translation] 
Song 

A  eulogy  for  the  princess. 

For  Xalii-eiia-eua  a  uame ! 

Chief  among  women ! 

She  soothes  the  cold  wind  with  her  flame — 
5        A  peace  that  is  mirrored  in  calm. 

A  wind  that  sheddeth  rain; 

A  tide  that  flowed  long  ago; 

The  water-spring  of  Mana, 

Life-spring  for  the  people, 
10        A  fount  where  the  lapping  dog 

Barks  at  the  incoming  wave. 

Drifting  si»ray  on   the  bloom 

Of   the    saiid-si»rawling    ili-aii 

And  the  scarlet  flower  of  ohai. 
15        On  the  wind-woven  mat  of  wild  grass. 

Long  naku.  a  si»ringy  mattress. 

The  spout-horn.   Kawelo-hea. 

Asks,  Who  of  right  has  the  tabu? 

The  princess  Xahi-ena-ena  ! 
1"        The  flowers  glow  in  the  pool. 

The  bathing  pool  of  Holei ! 

This  niele  inoa — name-soncr  or  eulogy' — was  composed  in  celebra- 
tion of  the  lamented  princess,  Xahienaena.  who.  l^efore  she  was 
misled  by  evil  influences,  was  a  most  attractive  and  promising 
character.  She  was  the  daughter  of  Keopuolani  and  yoimger  sister 
of  Kamehameha  III.  and  came  to  her  untimely  death  in  1S3G.  The 
name  was  compounded  from  the  words  na^  the,  dhi.  fires,  and 
exaena.  hot.  a  meaning  which  furnishes  the  motive  to  the  mele. 

"  Ka  ohai  o  MaiKitf.  A  beautiful  flowering  shrub,  also  spoken  of  as  ka  ohai  o  Papi'o- 
huīi,  said  to  have  been  brought  from  Kahiki  by  Namaka-o-kahai. 

''  Kairelo-hea.  A  blowhole  or  spouting  horn,  also  at  Honuapo.  through  which  the  ocean 
at  certain  times  sent  up  a  column  of  spray  or  of  water.  After  the  volcanic  disturbance 
of  1868  this  spouting  horn  ceased  action.  The  rending  force  of  the  earthquakes  must 
have  broken  up  and  choked  the  subterranean  channel  through  which  the  ocean  had  forced 
its  way. 

25352— Bull.  '6s—m 14 


XXVIL— THE  IIULA  KIELĒĪ 

The  Inila  li-c-Jci,  oi*  I/f-lc-Iri,  was  a  ixM-forniance  of  TTawaii's 
classic  times,  and  finds  mention  as  such  in  the  professedly  imperfect 
list  of  hidas  <riven  by  the  historian  David  Malo."  It  was  marked  by 
strenuous  bodily  action,  gestures  with  feet  and  hands,  and  that  vigor- 
ous exercise  of  the  pelvis  and  body  termed  amL  the  chief  feature  of 
which  Avas  a  rotation  of  the  pelvis  in  circles  and  ellipses,  which  is  not 
to  be  regarded  as  an  effort  to  portray  sexual  attitudes.  It  was  a  per- 
formance in  which  the  whole  company  stood  and  chanted  the  mele 
without  instrumental  accom])animent. 

The  sacrifice  offered  at  the  kuahu  in  connection  w^ith  the  produc- 
tion of  this  hula  consisted  of  a  black  pig,  a  cock  of  the  color  termed 
ula-hiwa — black  ])ointed  with  red — a  Avhite  hen,  and  awa.  Accord- 
ing to  some  authorities  the  offerings  deemed  appropriate  for  the  sac- 
rifice that  accom])anied  each  hula  varied  with  the  hula,  but  was 
definitely  established  for  each  variety  of  hula.  The  author's  studies, 
however,  lead  him  to  conclude  that,  whatever  may  have  been  the 
original  demands  of  the  gods,  in  the  long  run  they  were  not  over- 
particular and  w^ere  not  only  willing  to  put  up  Avith,  but  were  Avell 
pleased  so  long  as  the  offering  contained,  good  pork  or  fish  and  strong 

awa. 

McJc 

K\\  piliki'i  IlniiMloi-leluia,''  la; 
Kao'o  ''  'luna  o  kn  iiaolc/'  la  ; 
Ka  IMli-iki  i  ka  Iliia-inoa,  la: 
I''  ka  ma  una  <>  kc  w'-.x  Icwalcwa  '   la. 
r>         A    Www   ka   hope  o  ko'ii  lioa,  la. 


"  Ilawaiijin  Anti(iuities,  by  David  Malo:  translatod  by  N.  15.  Knu'ison.  A.  M..  M.  D. 
Honolulu,  tlie  Hawaiian  (Jazette  Company    (Limited).   ]J)0:i. 

''  Ihniahi-lchua.  A  wilderness  back  of  Hanalei  valley,  Kauai,  in  wbich  (be  lobna  Iree- 
a hounds.      Tlie  features  of  tliis  re;rion  :ire  as  above  described. 

•  hao'n.  To  bend  down  llie  sbrnl>s  .ind  tussocks  of  urass  1<>  furnisb  solid  fooiinj:  in 
I  rossiuK    swampy    j;ro«ind. 

''  Sar'ir.  noj,'Ky  f-'round  :  a  swamp,  sudi  as  pilled  Ilic  smuniil  nf  Kau.ii's  cenli-al  moun- 
tain  mass,    Waiab'Ale. 

'  Aa  IciraUira.  Aerial  rools  sucli  as  .irc  pul  lorlb  li.v  llic  Iclnia  trees  in  liiuii  altitudes 
ami  in  a  dain|)  climate.  'I'liey  often  aid  tlie  traveler  by  furnisbing  bim  wilb  a  .sort  of 
ladder. 

210 


BUREAU   OF  AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY 


BULLETIN  38     PLATE  XXII 


AWA-PUHI,    A    HAWAIIAN     GINGER 

(zingiber  zerumbet) 


KMKitsoxJ  UNWRITTEN    LITEKATUKE    OF    HAWAII  211 

A  ko-il  ka  hope  o  ke  kolrn,  la — 

Xa  n'i  eliia."  • 

Ki-ki"i  ka  ua  i  k;i  nana  keia,  la.'' 

L'l'iJinshition] 

Song 

PtM-ilmis.  steop,  is  the  climb  to  Hnnalei  woods; 
To  walk  canny  footed  over  its  bogs ; 
To  balance  oneself  on  its  ledges, 
And  toil  up  ladder  of  hanging  roots. 
5        The  bulk  of  my  guide  overhangs  me, 
His  loins  are  well-nigh  exhausted : 
Two  beautiful  shapes ! 
'Neath  this  bank  I  crouch  sheltered  from  rain. 

At  first  blush  this  niele  seems  to  be  the  account  of  a  perilous  climb 
through  that  wild  mountainous  region  that  lies  back  of  Hanalei, 
Kauai,  a  region  of  tangled  woods,  oozy  steeps,  fathomless  bogs,  nar- 
row ridges,  and  overhanging  cliffs  that  fall  aAvay  into  profound 
abysses,  making  such  an  excursion  a  most  precarious  adventure.  This 
is  what  appears  on  the  surface.  Hawaiian  poets,  however,  did  not 
indulge  in  landscape-painting  for  its  own  sake;  as  a  rule,  they  had 
some  ulterior  end  in  view,  and  that  end  was  the  portrayal  of  some 
primal  human  passion,  ambition,  hate,  jealousy,  love,  especially  love. 
Guided  by  this  principle,  one  asks  what  uncouth  or  roniiintic  love 
adventure  this  wild  mountain  climb  symbolizes.  All  the  Hawaiians 
whom  the  author  has  consulted  on  this  question  deny  an}^  hidden 
meaning  to  this  mele. 

"  U'i  chut.  Literally  two  beauties.  One  interpreter  says  the  reference  is  to  the  arms, 
with  which  one  pulls  himself  up  ;  it  is  here  rendei-ed  "  flanks." 

''  Ki-ki'i  ka  itu  i  ka  nana  kcia,  hi.  The  meaning  of  this  passage  is  obscure.  The  most 
[dausible  view  is  that  this  is  an  exclamation  made  by  one  of  the  two  travelers  while 
crouching  for  shelter  under  an  overhanging  bank.  This  one.  tinding  himself  unprotected, 
exclaims  to  his  companion  on  the  excellence  of  the  shelter  he  has  found,  whereupon  the 
.secord  man  comes  over  to  share  his  comfort  only  to  lind  that  he  has  been  hoaxed  and  that 
the  deceiver  has  stolen  his  former  place.  The  language  of  the  text  seems  a  narrow  foun- 
dation on  which  to  base  such  an  incident.  A  learned  Hawaiian  friend,  however,  finds  it 
all  implied  in  this  passage. 


XXVIII.— THE  HULA  MŪ'U-MŪ'U 

Tho  c'oiK'optioii  of  this  peculiar  liiila  originated  from  a  pathetic 
incident  narrated  in  the  story  of  Hiiaka's  journe}^  to  bring  Prince 
Lohiau  to  tlie  court  of  Pele.  Haiika,  standing  with  her  friend 
Wahine-omaV)  on  the  heights  that  overlooked  the  beach  at  Kahaku- 
loa,  Maui,  saw  the  figure  of  a  woman,  maimed  as  to  hands  and  feet, 
dancing  in  fantastic  glee  on  a  plate  of  rock  by  the  ocean.  She  sang 
as  she  danced,  pouring  out  her  soul  in  an  ecstacy  that  ill  became  her 
pitiful  condition;  and  as  she  danced  her  shadow-dance,  for  she  was 
but  a  ghost,  poor  soul  I  these  were  the  words  she  repeated: 

Amvo,  junvC',  nio'  kn'u  limn  ! 
Amvc.  auwe,  mo'  kii'u  lima  ! 

[Translation] 

Alas,  alas,  maimed  are  my  hands! 
Alas,  alas,  maimed  are  my  hands  I 

AVahine-oma'o,  lacking  spiritual  sight,  saw  nothing  of  this;  but 
Iliiaka.  in  downright  pity  and  goodness  of  impulse,  plucked  a  hala 
fruit  from  the  string  about  her  neck  and  threw  it  so  that  it  fell 
before  the  poor  creature,  who  eagerly  seized  it  and  with  the  stumps  of 
her  hands  held  it  up  to  enjoy  its  odor.  At  the  sight  of  the  woman's 
l)leasure  Iliiaka  sang: 

I.e'a  wale  hoi  ka  wahine  lima-lima  olo.  wawao  olo, 
E  ha  ana  i  kana  i"a.  kn'i-kn'i  ana   i  kana  opihi, 
Wa'n-wa'n  ana  i  kana  linui.  Mana-mana-ia-kalu-e-a. 

['I'l-anslation! 

How  pleased  is  the  i^irl  maimed  of  hand  and  foot, 
(iropinj;  for  fish,  poundiiiix  shells  of  oi)ihi, 
Kneadinj;  her  moss.  Mana-mana-ia-kaln-ea  ! 

'J'lie  answer  of  the  desolate  creatuve.  grateful  for  Hiiaka's  recogni- 
tion and  kind  attention,  was  that  pretty  mele  appropriated  by  hula 
folk  as  the  wreath-song,  already  givtMi  (p.  .")(*>).  which  will  bear  repe- 
tition : 

Ke  lei  mai  la  o  Ka-nla  i  ke  kai,  e-e! 
Ke  malamalama  o  Niihan,  na  malie. 
A  malie,   pa   ka    hni-wai. 
Ke  inn  mai  la  na  hala  «»  \an(>  i  kv  kai. 
r»  \(»  Nane  ka  hala.  n<»  I'nna  ka  wahine, 

No  ka  hui  no  i  Kilanea. 
L'lL' 


EMERSON  1  UNWRITTEN    LITERATURE    OF    HAW  ATT  218 

[Translation! 

Kanla  wreathes  her  l)r()\v  with  tlie  ocean; 
Niihau  shines  forth  ni  the  cahn. 
After  the  cahn  blows  the   Inu-wai, 
And  the  palms  of  Naiie  drink  of  the  salt. 
5         From  Xaue  the  palm,  from  Puna  the  maid, 
Aye,  from  the  pit  of  Kilauea. 

The  hula  mtf^ff-muhi,  literally  the  dance  of  the  niaimeel,  has  lonj^ 
been  ont  of  vogue,  so  that  the  author  has  met  with  but  one  person, 
and  he  not  a  practitioner  of  the  hula,  who  has  witnessed  its  perform- 
ance. This  was  in  Puna,  Hawaii;  the  performance  was  by  women 
only  and  was  without  instrumental  accompaniment.  The  actors  were 
seated  in  a  half-reclining  position,  or  kneeling.  Their  arms,  as  if  in 
imitation  of  a  maimed  person,  were  bent  at  the  elbows  and  doubled 
up,  so  that  their  gestures  were  made  with  the  upper  arms.  The 
mele  they  cantillated  went  as  follows: 

Pii  ana  a-ama," 

A-ama  kai  nui, 

Kai  pua-lena  ; 

A-ama,  pai-e-a,^ 
5        Naholo  i  ka   lanpapa. 

Popo'i,  popo'i,   popo'i ! 

Pii  mai  pipipi,^  alealea  ; 

Noho  i  ka  maUia  kai 

O-ii,*^  o-i  kela. 
10        Ai  ka   limu   akaha-kaha  ;  ^ 

Kn  e,  Kahiki,  i  ke  kai  nni ! 

I  ke  kai  pualena  a  Kane ! 

A  ke  Akna  o  ka  Ina, 

T'a   hiki   i  kai ! 
15         Ai  hnmn-hnmn, 

E  lau,  e  Ian  e, 

Ka  opihi  f  koele  ! 

Pa  i  uka,  pa  i  kai, 

Kahi  a  ke  Akua  i  pe'e  ai. 

*  A-dwirt.     An  edible  black  crab.     When  the  surf  is  high  it  climbs  up  on  the  rocks. 

''Poi-c-d.  An  edible  gray  crab.  The  favorite  time  for  taking  these  crabs  is  when  the 
high  tide  or  surf  forces  them  to  leave  the  water  for  protection. 

''  Pipipi.  A  black  seashell  (Xerita).  With  it  is  often  found  the  alea-īen,  a  gray  shell. 
These  shellfish,  like  the  crabs  above  mentioned,  crawl  up  the  rocks  and  cliffs  during  stormy 
weather. 

<*  0-ii.  A  variety  of  eel  that  lurks  in  holes  ;  it  is  wont  to  keep  its  head  lifted.  The 
o-i'  (same  verse)  is  an  eel  that  snakes  about  in  the  shallow  water  or  on  the  sand  at 
the  edge  of  the  water. 

^  Akuhakdha.  A  variety  of  moss.  If  one  ate  of  this  as  he  gathered  it.  the  ocean  at  once 
became  tempestuous. 

f  Opihi.  An  edible  bivalve  found  in  the  salt  waters  of  Hawaii.  Pele  is  said  to  have 
been  very  fond  of  it.  There  is  an  old  saying.  He  akua  ai  opihi  o  Pclc — "  Pele  is  a  goddess 
who  eats  the  opihi."  In  proof  of  this  statement  they  point  to  the  huge  piles  of  opihi 
shells  that  may  be  found  along  tlie  coast  of  Puna,  the  middens,  no  doubt,  of  the  old-time 
people.  Kocle  was  a  t(>rm  applied  to  the  opihi  that  lives  well  under  water,  and  then*- 
fore  are  delicate  eating.  .Vnother  meaning  given  to  tlie  word  koele — opihi  koele,  line 
17 — is  "  heaped  up." 


214  BURP:AU    of    AMKKICAN    ethnology  [hill.  38 

JO  IN-'c  (>(•  ;i    iialo   loji  ; 

T'a  iialo  iia   Pelo. 

K  liua'i  e.  liun'i  e,  hna'i, 

O  Ku   ka  iiialin  nui  akea !  « 

Iho  i  kai  o  ka  Milo-lioln  ;  '> 
2."»         Anau  uiehann  i  ka  wai  o  kc  Akiia. 

Ke  a  e,  ke  a  mai  la 

Ke  ahi  a  ka  Wahine. 

K  hula  e.  e  hula  e.  e  hula  e ! 

K  hula  mai  oukou  ! 
30         T'a  uoa  no  Manamaiia-ia-kalu-«'-a, 

Puili  kua,  puili  alo: 

ITolo  i  kai,  holo  i  uka. 

Holo  i  ka  lua  o  Pele — 

He  Akua  ai  pohaku  no  Puna. 
35         O  Pi,^  o  Pa,''  uhini  mai  ana, 

O  Pele  i  ka  lua. 

A  noa ! 

[Translation] 

Rlaek  crabs  are  climbing. 

Crabs  from  the  great  sea, 

Sea  that  is  darkling. 

Black  crabs  and  gray  crabs 
5         Scuttle  o'er  the  reef -pi  ate. 

P.illows  are  tumbling  and  lashing. 

Beating  and  surging  nigh. 

Seashells  are  crawling  up; 

And  lurking  in  holes 
10        Are  the  eels  o-fi  and  o-f. 

But  taste  the  moss  akahakaha, 

Kahiki !  how  the  sea  rages ! 

The  wild  sea  of  Kane ! 

The  pit-god  has  come  to  the  ocean, 
]r»         All   consuming,  devouring 

By  heaps  the  delicate  shellfish: 

Lashing  the  mount,  lashing  the  sea. 

Lurking  place  of  the  goddess. 

Pray  hide  yourself  wholly: 
20         The  Pele  women  are  hidden. 

Burst  forth  now !  burst  forth  ! 

Ku  with  sju'eading  column  of  smoke  I 

Now  down  to  the  grove  ^Milo-holu  : 

Bathe  in  waters  warmed  by  the  goddess. 
25         Behold,  they  burn,  behold,  they  burn  1 

"  O  Ku  ka  mahn  nui  akro.  The  Hawaiians  have  come  to  treat  this  phrase  as  one  word, 
nn  epitliot  applied  to  tlie  Kod  K\i.  In  the  author's  translation  It  is  treated  as  an  ordi- 
nary   phrase. 

*  MUo-hulu.  A  firove  of  niilo  trees  that  stood,  as  some  affirm,  about  that  natural  basin 
(if  warm  wafer  in  I'nna.  which  llie  Hawaiians  called  Wai-irrln-u-rhi. 

'■  Pi,  Pa.  Tlw'se  were  two  imaginary  little  Iteinjrs  wlio  lived  in  the  crater  of  Kilauea. 
jind  who  declared  their  presence  by  a  tiny  shrill  piping  sound,  such,  perhaps,  as  a  sticlc  of 
jrreen  wood  will  mtxke  when  burning.  IM  was  active  at  such  times  as  the  fires  were 
retreating;.  I'a  when  the  fires  were  risinj;  to  a  full   head. 


EMEKSUNJ  UNWRITTEN    LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  215 

Tlio  tiivs  of  tlu'  i^MxMcss  burn  ! 

Now  for  the  dance,  tLe  dance  1 

Bring  out  the  dance  made  ])ublic 

By  Maua-māna-ia-kālu-ē-a. 
30         Turn  about  back,  turn  about  face; 

Advance  toward  the  sea  ; 

Advance  toward  the  hind. 

Toward  the  pit  that  is  Pele's, 

Portentous  consumer  of  rocks  in  Puna. 
35         Pi  and  Pa  chirp  the  cricket  notes 

Of  Pele  at  home  in  her  pit. 

Have  done  witli  restraint  I 

The  imagery  and  language  of  this  niele  mark  the  hnhi  to  which  it 
belonged  as  a  performance  of  strength. 


XXTX.— TIIK  IITLA  KOLAXI 

For  the  i)iirpose  of  this  book  the  rating  of  any  variety  of  hula  must 
depend  not  so  much  on  the  grace  and  rhythm  of  its  action  on  the 
stage  as  on  the  imaginative  power  and  dignity  of  its  poetry.  Judged 
in  this  way,  the  kolani  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  important 
of  the  huhis.  Its  performance  seems  to  have  made  no  attempt  at 
sensationalism,  yet  it  was  marked  by  a  peculiar  elegance.  This  must 
have  been  due  in  a  measure  to  the  fact  that  onty  adepts — olohe — 
those  of  the  most  finished  skill  in  the  art  of  hula,  took  part  in  its 
presentation.  It  was  a  hula  of  gentle,  gracious  action,  acted  and  sung 
while  the  performers  kept  a  sitting  position,  and  was  without  instru- 
mental accompaniment.  The  fact  that  this  hula  was  among  the  num- 
ber chosen  for  presentation  before  the  king  (Kamehameha  III)  while 
on  a  tour  of  Oahu  in  the  year  1840  or  1847  is  emphatic  testimony  as 
to  the  esteem  in  which  it  Avas  held  by  the  Hawaiians  themselves. 

The  mele  that  accomjoanied  this  hula  Avhen  performed  for  the 
king's  entertainment  at  Waimanalo  Avas  the  folloAving: 

He  iia  la,  lie  ua, 

He  ua  pi'i  mai ; 

Noe-noo  linlan, 

Ilalau  loa  o  Lono. 
5         (>  lono  oe ; 

Pa -a -a  iia  ]iali 

I  ka  liana  a  Ikiiwa — 

I'oba  ko-ele-ele. 

A  Welehu  ka  ma  la  ma, 
10         Nolio  i  Makali'i : 

Li'i-li'i  ka  liana. 

Aia  a  e'e-u. 

He  en  ia  no  ka   la  liiki. 

Hiki  mai  ka  Lani, 
15         Xanweuwe  ka  honua, 

Ka  liana  a  ke  ola'i  nni : 

Moe  pono  ole  ko'u  po — 

Xa  nilio  ai  kalakala, 

Ka  liana  a  ka  Ninlii 
20         A  man  i  ke  kai  loa. 

He  loa  o  ka  hiki'na. 

A  na  noa,  a  na  noa. 

216 


KMKitsoN]  UNWRITTEN    LITERATURE    OE    HAWAII  217 

ITrJinsIation  I 

Lo,  the  rain,  the  rain  ! 

Tlie  rain  is  api)roa('bing; 

The  dance-liall  is  murky, 

The  great  hall  of  I.ono. 
5         Listen !  its  mountain  walls 

Are  stunned  with  the  clatter. 

As  when  in  October, 

Heaven's  thunderbolts  shatter. 

Then  follows  Welehu, 
10         The  month  of  the  Pleiads. 

Scanty  the  work  then  done, 

Save  as  one's  driven. 

Spur  comes  with  the  sun, 

When  day  has  arisen. 
If)         Now  comes  the  Heaven-born ; 

The  whole  land  doth  shake, 

As  witli  an  earthquake: 

Sleep  quits  then  my  bed  : 

How  shall  this  maw  be  fed  I 
20         Great  maw  of  the  shark — 

Eyes  that  gleam  in  the  dark 

Of  the  boundless  sea  ! 

Rare  the  king's  visits  to  me. 

All  is  free,  all  is  f rtn?  I 

If  the  author  of  this  Hawaiian  idyl  sought  to  adapt  its  descriptive 
imagery  to  the  features  of  any  particular  landscape,  it  would  almost 
seem  as  if  he  had  in  view  the  very  region  in  which  Kauikeaouli 
found  himself  in  the  year  1847  as  he  listened  to  the  mele  of  this 
unknown  Hawaiian  Theocritus.  Under  the  spell  of  this  poem,  one 
is  transported  to  the  amphitheater  of  Mauna-wili,  a  valley  separated 
from  Waimanalo  only  by  a  rampart  of  hills.  At  one's  back  are  the 
abrupt  walls  of  Konahuanui;  at  the  right,  and  encroaching  so  as 
almost  to  shut  in  the  front,  stands  the  knife-edge  of  Olomana ;  to 
the  left  range  the  furzy  hills  of  Ulamawao;  while  directly  to  the 
front,  looking  north,  winds  the  green  valley,  whose  waters,  before 
reaching  the  ocean,  spread  out  into  the  fish-ponds  and  duck  swamps 
of  Kailua.  It  would  seem  as  if  this  must  have  been  the  very  picture 
the  idyllic  poet  had  in  mind.  This  smiling,  3^et  rock-walled,  amphi- 
theater was  the  vast  dance-hall  of  Lono — Halau  loa  o  Lono  (verse 
4) — whose  walls  were  deafened,  stiumecl  {pa-d-a,  verse  G),  by  the 
tumult  and  uproar  of  the  multitude  that  always  followed  in  the 
wake  of  a  king,  a  multitude  whose  night-long  revels  banished  sleep : 
Moe  pono  ole  ho'u  po  (verse  17).  The  poet  seems  to  be  thinking  of 
this  same  hungry  multitude  in  verse  18,  Na  niho  ai  kalakala,  literally 
the  teeth  that  tear  the  food;  also  when  he  speaks  of  the  Niuhi  (verse 
19),  a  mythical  shark,  the  glow  of  whose  eyes  was  said  to  be  visible 
for  a  great  distance  in  the  ocean,  A  man  i  he  kai  loa  (verse  20). 


218  BUREAU    OF   AMKRICAX    ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

Ihuiva^  ]V<  Ichii,  MaLdin  (verses  7,  J),  and  10).  These  were  inoiiths 
in  the  Hawaiian  year  correspondin*^  to  a  part  of  September,  October 
and  November,  and  a  part  of  December.  The  Hawaiian  year  began 
when  the  Pleiades  {MakalPi)  rose  at  sunset  (about  November  20), 
and  was  divided  into  twelve  lunar  months  of  twenty-nine  or  thirty 
days  each.  The  names  of  the  months  differed  somewhat  in  the 
different  parts  of  the  group.  The  month  Iluwd  is  said  to  have  been 
so  named  from  its  being  the  season  of  thunderstorms.  This  does  not 
of  itself  settle  the  time  of  its  occurrence,  for  the  reason  that  in  Hawaii 
the  procession  of  the  seasons  and  the  phenomena  of  weather  follow 
no  definite  order;  that  is,  though  electrical  storms  occur,  there  is 
no  definite  season  of  thunderstorms. 

Mala-lri  (verse  10)  was  not  onty  the  name  of  a  month  and  the 
name  applied  to  the  Pleiades,  but  was  also  a  name  given  the  cool, 
the  rainy,  season.  The  name  more  commonly  given  this  season  w^as 
Ilooilo.  The  Makahiki  period,  continuing  four  months,  occurred  at 
this  time  of  the  year.  This  was  a  season  when  the  ]:)eople  rested  from 
unnecessary  labor  and  devoted  themselves  to  festivals,  games,  and 
special  religious  observances.  Allusion  is  made  to  this  avoidance  of 
toil  in  the  words  LPilPi  ha  hana  (verse  11). 

One  can  not  fail  to  perceive  a  vein  of  gentle  sarcasm  cropping  up 
in  this  idyl,  softened,  however,  by  a  spirit  of  honest  good  feeling. 
Witness  the  following:  Noe-noe  (verse  3),  primarily  meaning  cloudy, 
conveys  also  the  idea  of  agreeable  coolness  and  refreshment.  Again, 
while  the  multitude  that  follows  the  king  is  compared  to  the  ravenous 
man-eating  Niuhi  (verse  19),  the  final  remark  as  to  the  rarity  of  the 
king's  visits.  He  loa  o  ha  hihPna  (verse  21),  may  be  taken  not  only  as 
a  salve  to  atone  for  the  satire,  but  as  a  sly  self-gratulation  that  the 
affliction  is  not  to  be  soon  repeated. 


XXX.— THE  HULA  KOLEA 

There  was  a  peculiar  class  of  hulas  named  after  animals,  in  each  one 
of  which  the  song-maker  developed  some  characteristic  of  the  animal 
in  a  fanciful  way,  while  the  actors  themselves  aimed  to  portray  the 
animal's  movements  in  a  mimetic  fashion.  To  this  class  belongs  the 
hula  kolea.^  It  was  a  peculiar  dance,  performed,  as  an  informant 
asserts,  by  actors  who  took  the  kneeling  posture,  all  being  placed  in 
one  row  and  facing  in  the  same  direction.  There  were  gestures  Avith- 
out  stint,  arms,  heads,  and  bodies  moving  in  a  fashion  that  seemed  to 
imitate  in  a  far-off  way  the  movements  of  the  bird  itself.  There  Avas 
no  instrumental  accompaniment  to  the  music.  The  following  mele  is 
one  that  was  given  Avith  this  hula  : 

Kolea  kai  piha  !  * 

I  aha  mai  neiV 

Kii-nou  ^  mai  iiei. 

E  aha  kakouV 
5         E  ai  kakou.<* 

Nohea  ka  ai  ?  ^ 

No  Kahiki  mai.*' 

Hiki  mai  ka  Lani,*^ 

Olina  HaAA'aii, 
10        Mala'ela'e  ke  ala, 

Xou,  e  ka  Laui. 

Puili  i)u  ke  aloha, 

Pili  me  ka'n  manu.'' 

Ka  puana  a  ka  moe? 
15        Moe  oe  a  hoolana 

"  The    plover. 

'' Kolcu  kai  piha.  The  kolea  is  a  feeder  along  the  shore,  his  range  iimited  to  a  narrower 
strip  as  the  tide  rises.  The  snjire  was  one  of  the  methods  used  by  the  ITawaiinns  for  the 
capture  of  this  bird.  In  his  efforts  to  escape  when  snared  he  made  that  futile  bobbing 
motion  with  his  head  that  must  be  familiar  to  everj^  hunter. 

'■  Usually  the  bobbing  motion,  ku-noii,  is  the  prelude  to  flight;  but  the  snared  bird  can 
do  nothing  more,  n  fact  which  suggests  to  the  poet  the  nodding  and  bowing  of  two  lovers 
when  they  meet. 

^  E  ai  kakou.  Literally,  let  us  eat.  While  this  figure  of  speech  often  has  a  sensual 
meaning,  it  does  not  necessarily  imply  grossness.  Hawaiian  literalness  and  narrowness 
of  vocabulary  is  not  to  be  strained  to  the  overthrow  of  poetical  sentiment. 

"To  the  question  Xohva  ka  aif,  whence  the  food?  that  is,  the  bird,  the  poet  answers, 
A'o  Kahiki  mai,  from  Kahiki.  from  some  distant  region,  the  gift  of  heaven,  it  may  be,  as 
implied  in  the  next  line,  Hiki  mai  ka  Lani.  The  coming  of  the  king,  or  chief,  Lani,  liter- 
ally, the  heaven-born,  with  the  consummation  of  the  love.  Exactly  what  this  connection 
is  no  one  can  say. 

t  In  the  expression  PUi  me  ka'u  manu  the  poet  returns  to  his  figure  of  a  l)ird  as  rep- 
resenting a  loved  one. 

219 


220  BUHKAl'    OF    AMKKIC'AX    ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

K:i  linli'a   i   liiUi   iii:ii  : 
Ooo  pu  me  a'ii 
Xolio  pii  i  ka  wai  aliali. 
Hai'na  ia  ka  pauiia. 
20         ()  ka  liiia  o  ke  kolea,  aia  i  Kaliiki.« 
Iliki  mai  koii  aloha,  mac'ch'  an. 

ITranshilion  1 

A  plover  at  the  full  of  tlio  sea — 

What,  l)ray,  is  it  saying  to  lue? 

It   keeps  bobbing  its  noddy. 

To  do  what  would  you  counsel? 
5         Why,  eat  its  plump  body ! 

Whence  comes  the   sweet   morsel? 

From  the  land  of  Kahiki. 

When   our   sovereign   appears, 

Hawaii  gathers  for  play, 
10         Stumble-blocks   cleared   from    the    way — 

Fit  rule  of  the  king's  highway. 

Let  each  one  embrace  then  his  love; 

For  me,  I'll  keep  to  my  dove. 

Hark  now,  the  signal   for  bed  I 
IT)         Attentive  then  to  love's  tread, 

While  a  wee  bird  sings  in  the  soul. 

My  love  comes  to  me  heart-whole — 

Then  quaff  the  waters  of  bliss. 

Say  what  is  the  key  to  all  this? 
20         The    plover    egg's   laid    in    Kahiki. 

Your    love,    when    it   comes,    finds    me   dumb. 

The  plover — kolea — is  a  wayfarer  in  Hawaii;  its  nest-home  is  in 
distant  lands,  Kahiki.  The  Hawaiian  poet  finds  in  all  this  some- 
thing that  reminds  him  of  the  spirit  of  love. 

«  O  ka  hua  o  ke  kolea,  aia  i  Kahiki.  In  declaring  that  the  egg  of  the  kolea  is  laid  iu  a 
foreign  land,  Kahiki.  the  poet  enigmatizes,  l)asing  his  thought  on  some  fancied  resemblance 
between  the  mystery  of  love  and  the  mystery  of  the  kolea's  birth. 


XXXr.— THE  IIULA  MANO 

The  hula  memo,  shark-dance,  as  its  name  signifies,  Avas  a  perform- 
ance that  takes  class  with  the  hula  kolea,  already  mentioned,  as  one  of 
the  animal  dances.  But  little  can  be  said  about  the  physical  features 
of  this  hula  as  a  dance,  save  that  the  performers  took  a  sitting  posi- 
tion, that  the  action  was  without  sensationalism,  and  that  there  was 
no  instrumental  accompaniment.  The  cant  illation  of  the  mele  was  in 
the  distinct  and  quiet  tone  and  manner  Avhich  the  Hawaiians  termed 
ko'i-honua. 

The  last  and  only  mention  found  of  its  performance  in  modern 
times  was  in  the  year  1847,  during  the  tour,  previously  mentioned, 
which  Kamehameha  III  made  about  Oahu.  The  place  was  the  lonely 
and  romantic  valley  of  Waimea,  a  name  already  historic  from  having 
been  the  scene  of  the  tragic  death  of  Lieutenant  Hergest  (of  the  ship 
Dcedalus)  in  1792. 

Mdc 

Aiiwe!  pan  an  i  ka  iiiaiio  mii,  o! 
Lala-kea"  iiilio  pa-kolii. 
Pan  ka   papa-kii  o  L<mo  ^ 
I  ka  ai  ia  e  ka  maiio  niii, 
5         O  Niiibi  maka  alii, 
Olapa  i  ke  kai  lipo. 
Ahu  e!  au-we! 
A  pna  ka   wili-wili, 
A  nanahii  ka  inaiio,'' 

"  Lahi-kca.  This  proper  name,  as  it  seems  once  to  liave  been,  lias  now  becomi'  ralber 
the  designation  of  a  whole  class  of  man-eating  sea-monsters.  The  Hawaiians  worshiped 
individual  sharks  as  demigods,  in  the  belief  that  the  souls  of  the  departed  at  death,  or 
even  before  death,  sometimes  entered  and  took  possession  of  them,  and  that  they  at  times 
resumed  human  form.     To  this  class  belonged  the  famous  shark  Xiuhi  (verse  5). 

^Papa-kn  o  Lono.  This  was  one  of  the  underlying  strata  of  the  earth  that  must  be 
passed  before  reaching  Milu,  the  hades  of  the  Hawaiians.  The  cosmogony  of  the  south- 
ern Polynesians,  according  to  Mr.  Tregear,  recognized  ten  paixi,  or  divisions.  "  The  first 
division  was  the  earth's  surface  ;  the  second  was  the  abode  of  Rongo-ma-tane  and  Haumia- 
tiketike  ;  *  *  *  the  tenth  Avas  Meto,  or  Ameto,  or  Aweto,  wherein  the  soul  of  man 
found  utter  extinction."  (The  Maori-I'olynesinn  Comparative  Dictionary,  by  Edward 
Tregear.  F.  R.  (i.   S..  etc.,  Wellington,  New  Zealand,   1801.) 

'  Verses  8  and  9  are  from  an  old  proverb  which  the  Hawaiians  put  into  the  following 
(juatrain  : 

A  pua  ka  wiliwili, 

A   nanahu  ka  mano ; 

A  pua   ka  wahine  u'i,  , 

A  nanahu  ke   kanawai. 

[Translation] 
When  flowers  the  wiliwili. 
Then  bites  the  shark  ; 
When  flowers  a  young  woman. 
Then  bites  the  law. 
The  people  came  to  take  this  old  saw  seriously   and   literally,   and  during  the  season 
when  the  wiliwili    (Erythrina  monosperma)   was  clothed  in  ils  splendid  tufts  of  brick-red. 
mothers  kept  their  children  from  swimming  into  the  deep  sea  by  setting  before  them  the 
terrors  of  the  shark. 

221 


2i^2  BUREAU    OF    AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bill.  :;8 

10         Aiiwe!  pail  an  i  ka  iiiaiio  nui  ! 
Kai  iili.  kai  clc. 
Kai  popololma  o  Kane. 
A  I(»al(»a  ail  i  ka'ii  luila, 
Tail  an   i   l<a   inaiio  nui  ! 

|Tr:uisl:ili()ii| 

i<(>li(f 

Alas!    I    am    seized    by    llie    shark,    jrreat    shark! 
Lala-kea    with   triple-banked   teeth. 
'I'he  stratum  of  l^ono  is  j^oiie, 
Tom   lip  by  tlie  uiouster  shark, 
5         Xinlii  witli  tiery  eyes, 

That  tlamed  in  the  deep  blue  sea. 
Alas!   and  alas! 
When  flowers  the  wili-wili  tree. 
That  is  the  time  when  the  sharlv-jjjod  bites. 
]()         Alas!  I  am  seized  by  the  huj^e  shark! 
()  blue  sea,  O  dark  sea, 
Foam-mottled  sea  ot'  Kane ! 
What  ])leasure  I  took   in   my  dancing! 
Alas!  now  consumed  by  the  monster  shark  I 

Who  would  imagine  that  a  T^a^yaiiall  would  ever  j^icture  the  god 
of  love  as  a  shark?  As  a  bird,  yes;  but  as  a  shark!  What  a  light 
this  fierce  idyl  casts  on  the  imagination  of  the  people  of  ancient 
Hawaii ! 


XXXIL— TITK  HULA  ILK) 

The  doof  took  his  part  and  played  his  enthusiastic  role  in  the 
domestic  life  of  every  Hawaiian.  He  did  not  starve  in  a  fool's  para- 
dise, a  neglected  object  of  man's  superstitious  regard,  as  in  Constan- 
tinople: nor  did  he  vie  Avith  kings  and  queens  in  the  length  and 
purity  of  his  pedigree,  as  in  England ;  but  in  Hawaii  he  entered  with 
full  heart  of  sympathy  into  all  of  man's  enterprises,  and  at  his 
death  bequeathed  his  body  a  sacrifice  to  men  and  gods.  It  was  fit- 
ting that  the  HaAvaiian  poet  should  celebrate  the  dog  and  his  alto- 
gether virtuous  and  altruistic  services  to  mankind.  The  hula  iln) 
may  be  considered  as  part  of  Hawaii's  tribute  to  man's  most  faithful 
friend,  the  dog. 

The  hula  ilio  was  a  classic  performance  that  demanded  of  the  act- 
ors much  physical  stir;  they  shifted  their  position,  uoav  sitting,  now 
standing;  they  moved  from  place  to  place:  indulged  in  many  ges- 
tures, sometimes  as  if  imitating  the  motions  of  the  dog.  This  hula 
has  long  been  out  of  commission.  Like  the  tAvo  animal -hulas  pre- 
viously mentioned,  it  Avas  performed  Avithout  the  aid  of  instrumental 
accompaniment. 

The  allusions  in  this  mele  are  to  the  mythical  story  that  tells  of 
Kane's  drinking  revels  on  the  heights  about  Waipi'o  A^alley:  how  he 
and  his  felloAvs  bA^  the  noise  of  their  furious  conchinsr  disturbed  the 
])rayers  and  rituals  of  King  Liloa  and  his  priests.  Kane  himself  be- 
ing the  chief  offender  by  his  blowing  on  the  conch-shell  Kihapu. 
stolen  from  Liloa 's  temple  of  Paka'alann  :  its  recoAcry  by  the  Avit  and 
dramatic  action  of  the  gifted  dog  Puapua-lenalena.     (See  p.  131.) 

Melc 

Ku  o.  iiaiiri  e  I 
Makole  "  o  Ku  ! 
Hoolei  ia  ka  lei.'' 
I  lei  no  Puapua-lenalena, 
."►         He  lei  hinano  no  Kahili,'' 
He  AA-ehiAvehl  no  Xiho-ku.^ 


"  Makole.  Red-ejed  ;  ophthalmic. 

'•The  wrpath,  lei.  is  not  for  tiio  jjod.  but  for  the  dojr  TMiapua-lenalena.  tho  one  who 
ill  the  story  recovered  the  stolen  conch.  Kiha-in'i  (verse  20),  with  which  god  Kane 
made  nijrht  liideous  and  disturbed  the  repose  of  pious  King  Liloa  (Mov  ole  ka  po  o  ke  alii, 
verse    10). 

'  Kahili.   Said    to    be    the    foster    mother    of    I'uapua-leualena. 

''  Xiho-ki'i.  Literally  an  upright  tooth,  was  the  name  of  the  hill  on  which  lived  the 
old  couple   who   were   the   foster   parents   of   the  dog. 

228 


22-4  DUKKAir    OF    AMKHICAN    KTllJ^OLUGY  LiiLi^L.  38 

Kaaiiiiii  k;i  lani,"  mvc  ka  iioiiua ; 

A  aoa  akii  oe; 

Lohc  ()  Iliwa-uli,'^ 
10         Ka  iniliinili  a   ka   !ani. 

Noho  opuu  i  ka  mala  ma  la  ma 

Malama   ia  ka  iim/' 

He  liaiio-wai  no  Killoc'^ 

AValiiiie  noho  pali  o  TIaeiia. 
15         Kiiaena  na  ahi  o  Kilauea/ 

Ka  liakii  pali  o  Kamohoalii/ 

A  noho  i  Waipi'o, 

Ka  pali  kapu  a  Kane. 

Moe  ole  ka  po  o  ke  alii, 
20        Ke  kani  man  o  Kilia-pfi. 

T'kinki,  nlnhna  ke  alii : 

Hoonna   ka   elele  :  'J 

T.oaa  i  Kanai  o  Ma  no, 

Knpnen  a  Wai-uli  me  Kahili : 
25        A  ao  aku  oe,  aoa,''  aoa  a  aoa. 

liana  e  o  Kaua-hoa,'" 

Ka  mea  ni  o  Hanalei, 

Hn'e'a  kana,  moe  i  ke  awak(^a. 

"  Kaanini  ha  loni.  etc.  Portents  bj-  which  heaven  and  eartli  expressed  their  ap- 
preciation of  the  birth  of  a  new  prodijry,  the  dog  Puapna-lenalena. 

^  Hiwauli.  An  epithet  applied  to  the  island  of  Hawaii,  perhaps  on  account  of  tlie 
immense  extent  of  territory  on  that  island  that  was  simply  black  lava  ;  hiiva,  black,  was 
a  sacred  color.     The  term  uli  has  reference  to  its  verdancy. 

'■  Ii)u.  Wai-uli,  the  foster  father  of  the  dog,  while  fishiny  in  a  mountain  brook, 
brought  up  a  pebble  on  his  hook  :  his  wife,  who  was  childless  and  yearned  for  offspring, 
kept  it  in  a  calabash  wrapped  in  choice  tapa.  In  a  year  or  two  it  had  developed  into 
the  wonderful  dog.  Puapua-lenalena.  The  calabash  was  the  ipu  here  mentioned,  the 
same  as   the   hano   icot*  (verse   13),   a   water-container. 

^  Kilioc.  A  sorceress  who  lived  at  Haena.  Kauai,  on  the  steep  cliffs  that  were 
inaccessible    to    human    foot. 

<=  Ena-cna  na  ahi  o  Kilauca.  "Hot  are  the  fires  of  Kilauea."  The  duplicated  word 
cna-ena,  taken  in  connection  with  Ha-ena  in  the  previous  verse,  is  a  capital  instance 
of  a  form  of  assonance,  or  nonterminal  rhyme,  much  favored  and  occasionally  used  by 
Hawaiian  poets  of  the  middle  period.  From  the  fact  that  its  use  here  introduces  a 
break  in  the  logical  relaticm  which  it  is  hard  to  reconcile  with  unity  one  may  think 
that  the  poet  was  seduced  from  the  straight  and  narrow  way  by  this  opportunity  for 
an    indulgence   that   sacrifices    reason    to    rhyme. 

f  KdiiioJin-alii.  The  brother  of  I'ele ;  his  person  was  so  sacred  that  the  flames  and 
smoke  of  Kilauea  dared  not  invade  the  bank  on  which  he  reposed.  The  connection  of 
Ibougbl   between  this  and  the  main   line  of  argument   is  not  clear. 

"  lloouna  ka  elcle.  According  to  one  story  Liloa  dispatched  a  messenger  to  bring 
Puapua-lenalena  and  his  master  to  Waipi'o  to  aid  him  in  regaining  possession  of  Kiha-pu. 

'•  A  ao  aku  or,  aoa  *  *  *  .  This  indicated  the  dog's  assent.  Puapua-lenalena  under- 
stood what  was  said  to  liim,  but  could  make  no  reply  in  human  speech.  When  a  question 
was  put  to  him,  if  he  wished  to  make  a  negative  answer,  he  would  keep  silent ;  but  if 
he  wished  to  express  assent  to  a  proposition,  he  barked  and  frisked  about. 

'■  Hana  e  o  Kaua-hna.  *  *  *  No  one  has  been  found  who  can  give  a  satisfactory 
explanation  of  the  logical  connection  existing  between  the  passage  here  cited  and  the 
rest  of  the  poem.  It  treats  of  an  armed  conflict  between  Iviiuahoa  and  his  cousin  Kawelo. 
a  hero  from  Oahu.  which  took  place  (m  Kauai.  Kauahoa  was  a  retainer  and  soldier  of 
Ai-kanaka.  a  king  of  Kauai.  'IMie  period  was  in  the  reign  of  King  Kakuhihewa.  of  Oahu. 
Kawelo  invaded  Kauai  with  an  armed  force  and  made  a  proposition  to  Kauahoa  which 
involved  treachery  to  Kauahoa's  liege-lord  Ai-kanaka.  Kauahoa's  answer  to  this  proposi- 
tion is  given  in  verse  liK  ;  //»'r  a  kana.  mor  i  kr  ai'akca  .' — "Strike  home,  then  sleep 
at  midday  '."     The  sleep  at  midday  was  the  sleep  of  death. 


EMERSON]    '  UNWRITTEN    LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  225 

Kapae  ke  kaua  o  ka  hoahaiiau4« 
30         Hookahi  no  pua  o  ka  oi : 

Awili  pu  me  ke  kaio'e.'' 

I  lei  no  Puapua-leualena. 

O  ku'u  luhi  ua  hiki  iho  la, 

Ka  uioi  o  Paka'a-lana.^ 
35         A  lana  ka  manao,  hakiiko'i  "loko. 

Ka  hae  man  ana  a  Puapua-lenalena, 

A  hiki  i  Kumu-kahi,'^ 

Kahi  an  i  nolio  ai, 

A  hiki  iho  la  ka  elele, 
40         Inn  i  ka  awa  kan-laan  o  I'nna.*^ 

Aoa,  he,  he,  hene  I 

The  author  of  this  mele,  apparently  under  the  sanction  of  his 
poetic  license,  uses  toward  the  great  god  Ku  a  plainness  of  speech 
which  to  us  seems  satirical ;  he  speaks  of  him  as  makole^  red-eyed,  the 
result,  no  doubt,  of  his  notorious  addiction  to  awa,  in  which  he  was 
not  alone  among  the  gods.  But  it  is  not  at  all  certain  that  the 
Hawaiians  looked  upon  this  ophthalmic  redness  as  repulsive  or  dis- 
graceful. Everything  connected  Avith  awa  had  for  them  a  cherished 
value.  In  the  mele  given  on  p.  130  the  cry  was,  "  Kane  is  drunken 
with  awa !  "  The  two  gods  Kane  and  Ku  were  companions  in  their 
revels  as  well  as  in  nobler  adventures.  Such  a  poem  as  this  flashes 
a  strong  light  into  the  workings  of  the  Hawaiian  mind  on  the  crea- 
tions of  their  own  imagination,  the  beings  who  stood  to  them  as 
gods;  not  robbing  them  of  their  power,  not  deposing  them  from  the 
throne  of  the  universe,  perhaps  not  even  penetrating  the  veil  of  en- 
chantment and  mystery  with  which  the  popular  regard  covered  them, 
at  the  most  perhaps  giving  them  a  hold  on  the  affections  of  the  people. 

[Translation] 
Song 

Look  forth,  god  Kn,  look  forth ! 
Huh  !  Kn  is  blear-eyed  ! 
Aye,  weave  now  the  wreath — 
A  wreath  for  the  dog  Pna-lena ; 
5        A  hala  plume  for  Kahili, 

Choice  garlands  from  Niho-kfi, 

'^  Kapae  ke  kaua  o  ka  hoahanau!  This  was  the  reply  of  Kawelo,  urging  Kauahoa  to 
set  the  demands  of  kinship  above  those  of  honor  and  loyalty  to  his  liege-lord.  In  tlie 
battle  that  ensued  Kauahoa  came  to  his  death.     The  story  of  Kawelo  is  full  of  romance. 

*  Kaio'e.  Said  to  be  a  choice  and  beautiful  flower  found  on  Kauai.  It  is  not  described 
by  Hillebrand. 

<^  Ka  nioi  o  Paka'a-lana.  The  doorsill  of  the  temple,  heiau,  of  Taka'a-lana  was  made 
of  the  exceedingly  hard  wood  nioi.  It  was  to  this  temple  that  Puapua-lenalena  brought 
the  conch  Kiha-pū  when  he  had  stolen  (recovered)   it  from  god  Kane. 

''  Qumukahi.     See  note  c  on  p.  197. 

*  Awa  kau-laau  o  Puna.  It  is  said  that  in  Puna  the  birds  somotiraos  planted  the  awa 
in  the  stumps  or  in  the  crotches  of  the  ti'ees,  and  this  awa  was  of  the  finest  quality. 

25352— Bull.  38—09 15 


226  BUREAU   OF  AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  •     [bull.  38 

There  wa^  a  scurry  of  clouds,  earth  groaned; 

The  sound  of  your  baying  reached 

Hawaii  the  verdant,  the  pet  of  the  gods; 
10        A  portent  was  seen  in  the  heavens. 

You  were  Icept  in  a  cradle  of  gourd, 

Water-gourd  of  the  witch  Kilioe, 

Who  haunted  the  cliffs  of  Haena — 

The  fiery  blasts  of  the  crater 
15        Touch  not  Kanioho-alii's  cliff. 

Your  travel   reaches  Waipi'o, 

The  sacred  cliff  of  god  Kane. 

Sleep  fled  the  bed  of  the  king 

At  the  din  of  the  conch  Kiha-pti. 
20        The  king  was  tormented,  depressed; 

His  messenger  sped  on  his  way; 

Found  help  from  Kauai  of  Māno — 

The  marvelous  foster  child. 

By  Waiuli,  Kahuli,  upreared; 
25        Your  answer,  a-o-a,  a-o-a  ! — 

'Twas  thus  Kauahoa  made  ready  betimes, 

That  hero  of  old  Hanalei— 

"  Strike  home !  then  sleep  at  midday  ! " 

*'  God  fend  a  war  between  kindred !  " 
30        One  flower  all  other  surpasses; 

Twine  with  it  a  wreath  of  kai-o"e, 

A  chaplet  to  crown  Pua-lena. 

My  labor  now  has  its  reward. 

The  doorsill  of  Pa-ka'a-lana. 
35         My  heart  leaps  up  in  great  cheer ; 

The  bay.  of  the  dog  greets  my  ear. 

It  reaches  East  Cape  by  the  sea. 

Where  Puna  gave  refuge  to  thee, 

Till  came  the  king's  herald,  hot-foot, 
40        And  quaffed  the  awa's  tree-grown  root. 

A-o-a,  a-o-a,  he,  he,  bene! 

The  problem  to  be  solved  by  the  translator  of  this  peculiar  mele 
is  a  difficult  one.  It  involves  a  constant  readjustment  of  the  mental 
standpoint  to  meet  the  poet's  vagrant  fanc}^,  which  to  us  seems  to  oc- 
cupy no  consistent  point  of  view.  If  this  difficulty  arises  from  the 
author's  oAvn  lack  of  insight,  he  can  at  least  absolve  himself  from  tlie 
charge  of  negligence  and  lack  of  effort  to  discover  the  standpoint 
that  shall  give  unity  to  the  whole  composition ;  and  can  console  him- 
self with  the  reflection  that  no  native  Hawaiian  scholar  with  whom 
he  has  conferred  has  been  able  to  give  a  key  to  the  solution  of  this 
problem.  In  truth,  the  native  Hawaiian  scholars  of  to-day  do  not 
a])preciate  as  we  do  the  necessity  of  holding  fast  to  one  viewpoint. 
They  seem  to  be  willing  to  accept  with  gusto  any  production  of  their 
old-time  singers,  though  they  may  not  be  able  to  explain  them,  and 
though  to  us,  in  whose  hearts  the  songs  of  the  masters  ever  make 
music,  they  may  seem  empty  riddles.     . 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN    LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  227 

The  solution  of  this  problem  here  furnished  is  based  on  careful 
study  of  the  text  and  of  the  allusions  to  tradition  and  myth  that 
therein  abound.  Its  expression  in  the  translation  has  rendered  neces- 
sary occasional  slight  departures  from  absolute  literalness,  and  has 
involved  the  supplying  of  certain  conjunctive  and  explanatory  words 
and  phrases  of  which  the  original,  it  is  true,  gives  no  hint,  but  without 
which  the  text  would  be  meaningless.  • 

One  learned  Hawaiian  with  whom  the  author  has  enjoyed  much 
conference  persists  in  taking  a  most  discouraging  and  pessimistic 
view  of  this  mele.  It  is  gratifying  to  be  able  to  differ  from  him  in 
this  matter  and  to  be  able  to  sustain  one's  position  by  the  consenting 
opinion  of  other  Hawaiians  equally  accomplished  as  the  learned 
friend  just  referred  to. 

The  incidents  in  the  story  of  Puapua-lenalena  alluded  to  in  the 
mele  do  not  exactly  chime  with  any  version  of  the  legend  met  with. 
That  is  not  strange.  Hawaiian  legends  of  necessity  had  many  vari- 
ants, especially  where,  as  in  this  case,  the  adventures  of  the  hero  oc- 
curred in  part  on  one  and  in  part  on  another  island.  The  author's 
knowledge  of  this  story  is  derived  from  various  independent  sources, 
mainly  from  a  version  given  to  his  brother.  Joseph  S.  Emerson,  who 
took  it  down  from  the  words  of  an  intelligent  Hawaiian  youth  of 
Kohala. 

English  literature,  so  far  as  known  to  the  author,  does  not  furnish 
any  example  that  is  exactly  comparable  to  or  that  will  serve  as  an 
illustration  of  this  nonterminal  rhyme,  which  abounds  in  Hawaiian 
poetry.    Perhaps  the  following  will  serve  the  purpose  of  illustration : 

'Twas   the   swine   of  Gadara,   fattened   on   mast. 
The  ryias^head  watch  of  a  ship  was  the  last 
To  see  the  wild  herd  careering  past. 

Or  such  a  combination  as  this : 

He  was  a  mere  flat, 
Yet    flattered   the    girls. 

Such  artificial  productions  as  these  give  us  but  a  momentary  in- 
tellectual entertainment.  While  the  intellectual  element  in  them  was 
not  lacking  with  the  Hawaiians,  the  predominant  feeling,  no  doubt, 
was  a  sensuous  delight  coming  from  the  repetition  of  a  full-throated 
vowel- combination. 


XXXIII.— THP]  HULA  PUA'A 

The  hula  puan  rounds  out  the  number  of  animal-dances  that  have 
survived  the  wreck  of  time,  or  the  memory  of  which  has  come  down 
to  us.  It  was  a  dance  in  which  only  the  olapa  took  part  without  the 
aid  of  instrumental  accompaniment.  Women  as  well  as  men  were 
eligible  as  actors  in  its  performance.  The  actors  put  much  spirit 
into  the  action,  beating  the  chest,  flinging  their  arms  in  a  strenuous 
fashion,  throwing  the  body  into  strained  attitudes,  at  times  bending 
so  far  back  as  almost  to  touch  the  floor.  This  energy  seems  to  have 
invaded  the  song,  and  the  cantillation  of  the  mele  is  said  to  have  been 
done  in  that  energetic  manner  called  ai-ha'a. 

The  hula  pua'a  seems  to  have  been  native  to  Kauai.  The  author 
has  not  been  able  to  learn  of  its  performance  within  historic  times 
on  any  other  island. 

The  student  of  Hawaiian  mythology  naturally  asks  whether  the 
hula  pua'a  concerned  itself  with  the  doings  of  the  mythological 
hog-deit}'  Kama-pua'a  whose  amour  with  Pele  was  the  scandal  of 
Hawaiian  mythology.  It  takes  but  a  superficial  reading  of  the  mele 
to  answer  this  question  in  the  affirmative. 

The  following  niel.e,  or  oli  more  properly,  which  was  used  in  con- 
nection with  the  hula  pua'a,  is  said  to  have  been  the  joint  production 
of  two  women,  the  daughters  of  a  famous  bard  named  Kana,  who  was 
the  reputed  brotlier  of  Limaloa  (long-armed),  a  wonder-working 
hero  who  piled  up  the  clouds  in  imitation  of  houses  and  mountains 
and  who  produced  the  mirage : 

on 

Ko'i  nijikn  mii,« 
Ike  ia  iia  pne  iiioKii, 
Na  mokii  o  Mala-la-wnlu,'^ 
Ka  noho  a  Ka-iuaiilii-a-nilio, 
5         Kupiina  o  Kaina-pua'a. 

"  Ko'i  maka  nuL  The  word  maka,  which  from  the  connection  here  must  mean  the 
edge  of  an  ax,  Is  the  word  generally  used  to  mean  an  eye.  Insistence  on  their  peculiarity 
leads  one  to  think  that  there  must  have  heen  something  remarkable  about  the  eyes  of 
Kama-pua'a.  One  account  describes  Kama-pua'a  as  having  (>ight  eyes  and  as  many  feet. 
It  is  said  that  on  one  occasion  as  Kama-pua'a  was  lying  in  wait  for  Pele  in  a  volcanic 
bubble  in  tiie  plains  of  Puna  Pele's  sisters  recognized  his  presence  by  the  gleam  of  his 
eyes.     They   immodliitely  walled  up  the  only  door  of  exit. 

"  Maīa-la-walu.  A  celebrated  king  of  Maui,  said  to  have  been  a  just  ruler,  who  was 
plain  in  battle  on  Hawaii  while  making  war  against  Lono-i-ka -raakaliiki,  the  rightful  ruler 
of  the  island.  It  may  be  asked  if  the  name  is  not  introduced  here  because  of  the  word 
iralu    (eight)  as  a  reference  to  Kama-i)ua'a's  eight  eyes, 

228 


liMERSOx]  UNWRITTEN    LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  229 

Ike  ia  ka  bono  a  Pii-lani ;  ^ 

Ku  ka  paoa  i  na  mokupnni. 

Ua  puni  au  ia  Pele, 

Ka  n'i  noho  man  i  Kilaiiea, 
10        Anaii  hewa   i  ke  a  o  Puna. 

Reiki  kolohe  a  Ku  ame  Hiua — ^ 

Hina  ka  opua,  kau  1  ke  olewa, 

Ke  ao  pua'a  ^  maalo  i  Haiipu. 

Haku'i  ku'u  manao  e  hoi  ^  i  Kahiki ; 
15         Pail   ole  ka'n   liooliibi   ia    Hale-ma'n-ma'u,^ 

I  ka  pali  kapu  a  Ka-moho-alii,  f 

Kela  knahiwi  a  man  a  ke  ahi. 

He  manao  no  l^o'u  e  noho  pn ; 

Pale  'a  mai  e  ka  hilahila, 
20        I  ka  hakukole  ia  mai  e  ke  Akua  wahine. 

Pale  oe,  pale  an,  iloko  o  ka  hilahila ; 

A  hilahila  wale  ia  iho  no  e  oe; 

Nan  no  ia  hale  i  noho.^ 

Ka  hana  ia  a  ke  Ko'i  maka  nni, 
25         Ike  ia  na  pae  mokn. 

He  hiapo  ^  an  na  Olopana, 

He  lii'i-alo  na  Kn-nla, 

Ka  mea  nana  na  haka  moa ; 

"  Pi'i-lani.  A  king  of  Maui,  father-in-law  to  Umi,  the  son  of  Liloa. 

''  Hina.  There  were  several  Ilinas  in  Hawaiian  mythology  and  tradition.  Olopana,  the 
son  of  Kamaulu-a-niho  (Fornander  gives  this  name  as  Ka-maimu-a-niho),  on  his  arrival 
from  Kahiki,  settled  in  Koolau  and  married  a  woman  named  Hina.  Kama-pua'a  is  said 
to  be  the  natural  son  of  Hina  by  Kahiki-ula,  the  brother  of  Olopana.  To  this  Olopana 
was  attributed  the  heiuu  of  Kawaewae  at  Kaneohe. 

*"  Ao  pua'a.  The  cloud-cap  that  often  rested  on  the  summit  of  Haupu,  a  mountain  on 
Kauai,  near  Koloa,  is  said  to  have  resembled  the  shape  of  a  pig.  It  was  a  common  saying, 
•'  The  pig  is  resting  on  Haupu." 

<>  Ho'i.  To  return.  This  argues  that,  if  Kama-pua'a  was  not  originally  from  Kahiki. 
he  had  at  least  visited  there. 

''  Hale-ma'u-ma'u.  This  was  an  ancient  lava-cone  which  until  within  a  few  years  con- 
tinued to  be  the  most  famous  fire-lake  in  the  caldera  of  Kilauea.  It  was  so  called,  prob- 
ably, because  the  roughness  of  its  walls  gave  it  a  resemblance  to  one  of  those  little  shelters 
made  from  rough  ama'u  fern  such  as  visitors  put  up  for  temporary  convenience.  The 
word  has  not  the  same  pronunciation  and  is  not  to  be  confounded  with  that  other  word 
man,  meaning  everlasting. 

f  Kamoho-ali'i.  The  brother  of  Pele ;  in  one  metamorphosis  he  took  the  form  of  a 
shark.  A  high  point  in  the  northwest  quarter  of  the  wall  of  Kilauea  was  considered  his 
special  residence  and  regarded  as  so  sacred  that  no  smoke  or  flame  from  the  volcano  ever 
touched  it.  He  made  his  abode  chiefly  in  the  earth's  underground  caverns,  through 
which  the  sun  made  its  nightly  transit  from  West  back  to  the  East.  He  often  retained 
the  orb  of  the  day  to  warm  and  illumine  his  abode.  On  one  such  occasion  the  hero  Mawi 
descended  into  this  region  and  stole  away  the  sun  that  his  mother  Hina  might  have  the 
beneflt  of  its  heat  in  drying  her  tapas. 

0  Hale  i  noho.  The  word  hale,  meaning  house,  is  frequently  used  metaphorically  for 
the  human  body,  especially  that  of  a  woman.  Pele  thus  acknowledges  her  amour  with 
Kama-pua'a. 

''  Hiajio.  A  firstborn  child.  Legends  arc  at  variance  with  one  another  as  to  the 
parentage  of  Kama-pua'a.  According  to  the  legend  referred  to  previously.  Kama-pua'a 
was  the  son  of  Olopana's  wife  Hina,  his  true  father  being  Kahiki-ula.  the  brother  of 
Olopana.  Olopana  seems  to  have  treated  him  as  his  own  son.  After  Kama-pua'a's 
robbery  of  his  mother's  henroosts,  Olopana  chased  the  thief  into  the  mountains  and 
captured  him.  Kama  eventually  turned  the  tables  against  his  benefactor  and  caused  the 
death  of  Olopana  through  the  treachery  of  a  priest  in  a  heiau  ;  he  was  offered  up  on  the 
altar  us  a  sacrifice. 


2iii)  BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

Nobo  i  ka  iika  o  Ka-liu-vva'a ;  « 
30         Ku'u  wa'a  ia  ho'i  i  Kahiki. 

Pail  ia  ike  ana  ia  Hawaii, 

Ka  aiua  a  ke  Akna  i  liiki  niai  ai, 

I  iiobc)  malibiiii  ai  i  ua  moku  o  Hawaii. 

Malibiui  oe,  malibini  au, 
35        Ko'i  maka  uui,  ike  ia  na  pae  opuaa. 

A  pepelu,  a  pepelu,  a  pepelii 

Ko  ia  la  biielo !  pili  i  ka  leniii ! 

Hn!  bii!   bu!  bii ! 

Ka-baku-ma'a-lani  ^  kou  inoa  ! 
40        A  e  o  mai  oe,  e  Kaiie-boa-laui. 

Ua  noa. 

[Translation] 
Song 

Ax  of  broadest  edge  I'm  bigbt ; 

Tbe  island  groups  I've  visited, 

Islands  of  Mala-la-walu, 

Seat  of  Ka-niaulu-a-nibo, 
5        Graudam  of  Kama,  tbe  swine-god. 

I  bave  seen  Pi'i-lani's  glory, 

Wbose  fame  spreads  over  tbe  islands. 

f]namored  was  I  of  Pele; 

Her  beauty  bolds  court  at  tbe  tire-pit, 
no         (liven  to  ravage  tbe  plains  of  Puna. 

Miscbievous  son  of  Ku,  and  of  Hina, 

Wbose  cloud-bloom  bangs  in  etber, 

Tbe  pig-sbaped  cloud  tbat  sbadows  Haupu. 

An  impulse  comes  to  return  to  Kabiki — 
15        Tbe  cbains  of  tbe  pit  still  gall  me, 

Tbe  tabu  cliff  of  Ka-mobo-alii, 

Tbe  mount  tbat  is  ever  al)laze. 

I  tbougbt  to  bave  domiciled  witb  lier; 

Was  driven  away  by  mere  shame — 
20         Tbe  sbameful  abuse  of  tbe  goddess ! 

(4()  tbou,  go  I — a  truce  to  tbe  sbame. 

It  was  your  manners  that  shamed  me. 

Free  to  you  was  tbe  house  we  lived  in. 

These  were  the  deeds  of  Broad-edged-Ax, 
25         Who  has  seen  tbe  whole  group  of  islands. 

Olopana's  firstborn  am  I, 

Nursed  iu  the  arms  of  Ku-ula ; 

"  IvaUu-ica'a.  The  bilge  of  the  canoe.  This  is  the  name  of  a  deep  and  narrow  valley 
at  Ilauula,  Koolau,  Oahu,  and  is  well  worth  a  visit.  Kama-pua'a,  hard  pressed  bj-  the 
host  of  his  enemies,  broke  through  the  multitude  that  encompassed  him  on  the  land  side 
and  with  his  followers  escaped  up  this  narrow  Korge.  When  the  valley  came  to  an 
abrupt  end  before  him.  and  he  could  retreat  no  farther,  he  reared  up  on  his  hind  legs 
and  scaled  the  mountain  wall  ;  his  feet,  as  he  sprang  up,  scored  the  precipice  with 
Immense  hollowed-out  grooves  or  flutings.  The  Ilawaiians  call  these  ira'a  from  their 
resemblance  to  the  hollow  of  a  Hawaiian  canoe.  This  feat  of  the  hog-god  compelled 
recognition  of  Kama-pua'a  as  a  deity  ;  and  from  that  time  no  one  entered  Ka-liu-wa'a 
valley   withotit  making  an  offering  to  Kama-pun'a. 

''  Kahaku-ma'a-lani.  A  name  evidently  applied  to  Kama-pua'u. 


KMEKSON]  UNWRITTEN    LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  231 

Hers  were  the  roosts  for  the  gamecocks. 

The  wilds  of  Ka-liu-wa'a  my  home, 
30         That  too  my  craft  back  to  Kahiki ; 

This  my  farewell  to  Hawaii,  ^ 

Land  of  the  God's  immigration. 

Strangers  we  came  to  Hawaii ; 

A  stranger  thou,  a  stranger  I, 
35        Called  Broad-edged-Ax : 

I've  read  the  cloud-omens  in  heaven. 

It  curls,  it  curls!  his  tail — it  curls! 

Look,  it  clings  to  his  buttocks ! 

Faugh,  faugh,  faugh,  faugh,  uff ! 
40        What!  Ka-haku-ma'a-lani  your  name! 

Answer  from  heaven,  oh  Kane! 

My  song  it  is  done! 

If  one  can  trust  the  statement  of  the  Hawaiian  who  communicated 
the  above  mele,  it  represents  only  a  portion  of  the  whole  composition, 
the  first  canto — if  we  ma}^  so  term  it — having  dropped  into  the  limbo 
of  forgetfulness.  The  author's  study  of  the  mele  lends  no  countenance 
to  such  a  view.  Like  all  Hawaiian  poetry,  this  mele  wastes  no  time 
with  introductory  flourishes;  it  plunges  at  once  in  medias  res. 

Hawaiian  mythology  figured  Pele,  the  goddess  of  the  volcano,  as  a 
creature  of  passion,  capable  of  many  metamorphoses;  now  a 
wrinkled  hag,  asleep  in  a  cave  on  a  rough  lava  bed,  with  banked  fires 
and  only  an  occasional  blue  flame  playing  about  her  as  symbols  of  her 
power;  now  a  creature  of  terror,  riding  on  a  chariot  of  flame  and 
carrying  destruction;  and  now  as  a  young  woman  of  seductive 
beauty,  as  when  she  sought  passionate  relations  with  the  handsome 
prince,  Lohiau;  but  in  disposition  always  jealous,  fickle,  vengeful. 

Kama-pua'a  was  a  demigod  of  anomalous  birth,  character,  and 
make-up,  sharing  the  nature  and  form  of  a  man  and  of  a  hog,  and 
assuming  either  form  as  suited  the  occasion.  He  was  said  to  be  the 
nephew  of  Olopana,  a  king  of  Oahu,  whose  kindness  in  acting  as  his 
foster  father  he  repaid  by  the  robbery  of  his  henroosts  and  other  un- 
filial  conduct.  He  lived  the  lawless  life  of  a  marauder  and  freebooter, 
not  confining  his  operations  to  one  island,  but  swimming  from  one  to 
another  as  the  fit  took  him.  On  one  occasion,  when  the  farmers  of 
Waipi'o,  whom  he  had  robbed,  assembled  with  arms  to  bar  his  retreat 
and  to  deal  vengeance  upon  him,  he  charged  upon  the  multitude, 
overthrew  tliem  with  great  slaughter,  and  escaped  with  his  plunder. 

Toward  Pele  Kama-pua'a  assumed  the  attitude  of  a  lover,  whose 
approaches  she  at  one  time  permitted  to  her  peril.  The  incident 
took  place  in  one  of  the  Abater  caves — volcanic  bubbles — in  Puna, 
and  at  the  level  of  the  ocean ;  but  when  he  had  the  audacity  to  invade 
her  privacy  and  call  to  her  as  she  reposed  in  her  home  at  Kilauea  she 
repelled  his  advances  and  answered  his  persistence  with  a  fiery  onset, 
from  which  he  fled  in  terror  and  discomfiture,  not  halting  until  lie 


282  BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bill.  38 

had  put  the  width  of  many  islands  and  ocean  channels  between  him- 
self and  her. 

In  seeking  an  explanation  of  this  myth  of  Pele,  the  volcano  god 
and  Kama-pua'a,  who,  on  occasion,  was  a  sea-monster,  there  is  no 
necessity  to  hark  back  to  the  old  polemics  of  Asia.  Why  not  account 
for  this  remarkable  myth  as  the  statement  in  terms  of  passion  fa- 
miliar to  all  Ilawaiians  of  those  impressive  natural  phenomena  that 
were  daily  going  on  before  them?  The  spectacle  of  the  smoking 
mountain  pouring  out  its  fier}^  streams,  overwhelming  river  and  for- 
est, halting  not  until  they  had  invaded  the  ocean;  the  awful  turmoil 
as  fire  and  water  came  in  contact;  the  quick  reprisal  as  the  angry 
waves  overswept  the  land;  then  the  subsiding  and  retreat  of  the 
ocean  to  its  own  limits  and  the  restoration  of  peace  and  calm,  the 
fiery  mount  still  unmoved,  an  apparent  victory  for  the  volcanic 
forces.  Was  it  not  this  spectacular  tournament  of  the  elements  that 
the  Hawaiian  sought  to  embody  and  idealize  in  his  myth  of  Pele  and 
Kama-pua'a  ?  ° 

The  likeness  to  be  found  between  the  amphibious  Kama-pua'a  and 
the  hog  appeals  picturesquely  to  one's  imagination  in  many  ways. 
The  very  grossness  of  the  hog  enables  him  becomingly  to  fill  the  role 
of  the  Beast  as  a  foil  to  Pele,  the  Beauty.  The  hog's  rooting  snout, 
that  ravages  the  cultivated  fields;  his  panicky  retreat  when  suddenly 
disturbed;  his  valiant  charge  and  stout  resistance  if  cornered;  his 
lowered  snout  in  charge  or  retreat;  his  curling  tail — how  graphic- 
ally all  these  features  appeal  to  the  imagination  in  support  of  the 
comparison  which  lik-ens  him  to  a  tidal  wave. 

«  "  Tho  Hawaiian  tradition  of  J'ele,  tlie  dread  goddess  of  the  volcanic  fires,'"  says  Mr. 
Fornander,  "  analogous  to  the  Samoan  Fe'c,  is  probably  a  local  adaptation  in  aftertimes 
of  an  elder  myth,  half  forgotten  and  much  distorted.  The  contest  related  in  the  legend 
between  Tele  and  Kamaitua'a,  the  eight-eyed  monster  demigod,  indicates,  however,  a 
confused  knowledge  of  some  ancient  strife  between  religious  sects,  of  which  the  former 
represented  the  worshipers  of  fire  and  the  latter  those  with  whom  water  was  the  princi- 
pal element  worthy  of  adoration  "  (Abraham  Fornander,  The  I'olynesian  Race,  pp.  51,  52, 
Trubner  dL  Co.,  London.) 


XXXIV.— THE  HULA  OHELO 

The  hula  ohelo  was  a  very  peculiar  ancient  dance,  in  which  the 
actors,  of  both  sexes,  took  a  position  almost  that  of  reclining,  the 
body  supported  horizontally  by  means  of  the  hand  and  extended  leg 
of  one  side,  in  such  a  manner  that  flank  and  buttock  did  not  rest  upon 
the  floor,  while  the  free  leg  and  arm  of  the  opposite  side  swung  in 
wide  gestures,  now  as  if  describing  the  arch  of  heaven,  or  sweeping 
the  circle  of  the  horizon,  now  held  straight,  now  curved  like  a  hook. 
At  times  the  company,  acting  in  concert,  would  shift  their  base  of 
support  from  the  right  hand  to  the  left  hand,  or  vice  versa.  The 
whole  action,  though  fantastical,  was  conducted  with  modesty. 
There  was  no  instrumeiital  accompaniment ;  but  while  performing  the 
gymnastics  above  described  the  actors  chanted  the  words  of  a  mele 
to  some  Old  World  tune,  the  melody  and  rhythm  of  which  are  lost. 

A  peculiar  feature  of  the  training  to  which  pupils  were  subjected 
in  preparation  for  this  dance  was  to  range  them  in  a  circle  about  a 
large  fire,  their  feet  pointing  to  the  hearth.  The  theory  of  this 
practice  was  that  the  heat  of  the  fire  suppled  the  limbs  and  imparted 
vivacity  to  the  motions,  on  the  same  principle  apparently  as  fire  en- 
ables one  to  bend  into  shape  a  crooked  stick.  The  Avord  kapuahi^  fire- 
place, in  the  fourth  line  of  the  mele,  is  undoubtedly  an  allusion  to 
this  practice. 

The  fact  that  the  climate  of  the  islands,  except  in  the  mountains 
and  uplands,  is  rarely  so  cold  as  to  make  it  necessary  to  gather 
about  a  fire  seems  to  argue  that  the  custom  of  practising  this  dance 
about  a  fireplace  must  have  originated  in  some  land  of  climate  more 
austere  than  Hawaii. 

It  is  safe  to  say  that  very  few  kumu-hulas  have  seen  and  many 
have  not  even  heard  of  the  hula  ohelo.  The  author  has  an  authentic 
account  of  its  production  at  Ewa  in  the  year  1856,  its  last  perform- 
ance, so  far  as  he  can  learn,  on  the  public  stage. 

Mele 


Ku  oe  ko'ii  wahi  ohelo  iiei  la,  niiwe,  aiiwel 

Maka'ii  an  i  kau  mea  iini  wali-wali,  wali-wali ! 

Ke  hoolewa  nel,  a  lewa  la,  a  lewa  iiei ! 

Minomino,  enaeua  ka  ia  la  kapuahi,  kapuahi ! 

Nenea  i  ka  la'i  o  Kona,  o  Kona,  a  o  Koiia  ! 

Pohu  malino  i  ke  kai  havvana-wana,  hawaiia-wana  ! 

He  makau  na  ka  lawaia  nui,  a  iiui  e,  a  niii  la  ! 

Ke  o-e  nei  ke  alio  o  ka  ipu-lioloholoua,  Iioloholoua ! 

233 


234  BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

Nanfl  i  ka  opua  iiiakai  e,  makai  la ! 
10        Maikai  ka  haiia  a  Mali'o  e,  a  Mali'o  la ! 
Kohu  pono  ku  inu  ana  i  ka  wai,  a  wai  e! 
Auwe,  ku  oe  ko'u  wahi  obelo  iiei  la,  ohelo  nei  la! 

2 

Ki-6  lele,  ki-6  lele,  ki-6  lele,  e! 

Ke  uiapu  mai  nei  ke  ala,  ke  ala  e! 
15         Ua  mallhini  ka  hale,  ua  liiki  ia,  iia  hiki  e! 

Ho'i  paoa  i  ka  uka  o  Manal-nla,  ula  la,  ula  e! 

Maanei  oe,  e  ka  niakemake  e  nolio  malle,  ma-li-e! 

Ka  pa  kolonahe  o  ka  Unulau  mahope,  ma-hope! 

Pe'e  oe,  a  pe'e  au,  pe'e  o  ia  la, 
20        A  haawe  ke  aloha  1  ke  kaona,  i  ke  kaona  la  ! 

Mo-li-a  i  ka  nahele  e,  nahele  la  ! 

E  hele  oe  a  manao  mai  i  ka  liihi  mua,  a  i-miia ! 

0  moe  hewa  na  iwi  i  ke  alanui,  ala-nui. 
Kaai)a  Hawaii  a  ka  moku  nni,  a  nui  e! 

25        Nui  mai  ke  aloha  a  uwe  au,  a  uwe  au. 

Au-we !  pau  au  i  ka  man^  nui,  man    nui ! 
Au-we !  pau  au  i  ka  mau6  nui,  mano  nui ! 

[Translation] 

Song 

1 

Touched,  thou  art  touched  by  my  gesture,  I  fear,  I  fear. 

1  dread  your  mountain  of  flesh,  of  flesh : 
How  it  sways,  how  it  sways,  it  sways ! 

I'm  scorched  by  the  heat  of  this  hearth,  this  hearth. 
5         We  bask  in  this  summer  of  Kona,  of  Kona ; 

Calm  mantles  the  whispering  sea,  the  whispering  sea. 
Lo,  the  hook  of  the  fisherman  great,  oh  so  great ! 
The  line  hums  as  it  runs  from  the  gourd,  from  the  gourd. 
Regard  the  cloud-omens  over  the  sea,  the  sea. 
10         Well  skilled  in  his  craft  is  Mali'o,  Mali'o. 

How  grateful  now  were  a  draught  of  water,  of  water! 
I'ardou!     thou  art  touched  by  thrust  of  my  leg,  of  my  leg! 

2 

Forth  and  return,  forth  and  return,  forth  and  return  ! 

Now  waft  the  woodland  perfumes,  the  woodland  perfumes. 
15        The  house  ere  we  entered  was  tenant-free,  (piite  free. 

Heart-heavy  we  turn  to  the  greenwood,  the  greenwood ; 

This  the  place.  Heart's  desire,  you  should  tarry,  should  tarry. 

And  feel  the  soft  breath  of  the  Unulau,  Unulau — 

Retirement  for  you,  retirement  for  me,  and  for  him. 
20         We'll  give  then  our  heart  to  this  task,  this  great  task, 

And  build  in  the  wild  wood  a  shrine,  ay  a  shrine. 

You  go;  forget  not  the  toils  we  have  shared,  have  shared. 

Lest  your  bones  lie  unblest  in  the  road,  in  the  road. 

^^ow  wearisome,  long,  the  road  'bout  Hawaii,  great  Hawaii ! 
25        Love  carries  me  off  with  a  rush,  and  I  cry,  I  cry, 

Alas,  I'm  devoured  by  the  shark,  great  shark! 

Thi.s  is  not  the  first  time  that  a  Hawaiian  poet  has  figured  love  by 
the  nion.ster  shark. 


BUREAU   OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY 


BULLETIN  38     PLATE  XXIII 


HINANO     HALA 

MALE    FLOWER   OF  THE    PANDANUS  ODORATISSIMUS 


XXXV.— THE  HULA  KILU 

The  hnla  Mlu  was  so  called  from  being  used  in  a  sport  bearing  that 
name  which  was  much  patronized  by  the  alii  class  of  the  ancient 
regime.  It  w^as  a  betting  game,  or,  more  strictly,  forfeits  were 
pledged,  the  payment  of  which  was  met  by  the  performance  of  a 
dance,  or  by  the  exaction  of  kisses  and  embraces.  The  satisfaction  of 
these  forfeits  not  unfrequently  called  for  liberties  and  concessions 
that  could  not  be  permitted  on  the  spot  or  in  public,  but  must  wait 
the  opportunity  of  seclusion.  There  were,  no  doubt,  times  when  the 
conduct  of  the  game  was  carried  to  such  a  pitch  of  license  as  to  offend 
decency;  but  as  a  rule  the  outward  proprieties  were  seemingly  as 
well  regarded  as  at  an  old-fashioned  husking  bee,  when  the  finding 
of  the  "  red  ear  "  conferred  or  imposed  the  privilege  or  penalty  of 
exacting  or  granting  the  blushing  tribute  of  a  kiss.  Actual  impro- 
prieties were  not  witnessed. 

The  game  of  kilu  was  played  in  an  open  matted  space  that  lay  be- 
tween the  two  divisions  of  the  audience — the  women  being  on  one 
side  and  the  men  on  the  other.  Any  chief  of  recognized  rank  in  the 
papa  alii  was  permitted  to  join  in  the  game;  and  kings  and  queens 
were,  not  above  participating  in  the  pleasures  of  this  sport.  Once 
admitted  to  the  hall  or  inclosure,  all  were  peers  and  stood  on  an  equal 
footing  as  to  the  rides  and  privileges  of  the  game.  King  nor  queen 
could  plead  exemption  from  the  forfeits  incurred  nor  deny  to  another 
the  full  exercise  of  privileges  acquired  under  the  rules. 

The  players,  five  or  more  of  each  sex,  having  been  selected  by  the 
president.  La  anoano  ("quiet  day"),  sat  facing  each  other  in  the 
space  between  the  spectators.  In  front  of  each  player  stood  a  conical 
block  of  heavy  wood,  broad  at  the  base  to  keep  it  upright.  The 
kilu,  with  which  the  game  was  played,  was  an  oval,  one-sided 
dish,  made  by  cutting  in  two  an  egg-shaped  coconut  shell.  The  ob- 
ject of  the  player  was  to  throw  his  kilu  so  that  it  should  travel  with 
a  sliding  and  at  the  same  time  a  rotary  motion  across  the  matted  floor 
and  hit  the  wooden  block  w  hich  stood  before  the  one  of  his  choice  on 
the  side  opposite.  The  men  and  the  w^omen  took  turns  in  playing.  A 
successful  hit  entitled  the  player  to  claim  a  kiss  from  his  opponent,  a 
toll  which  was  exacted  at  once.  Success  in  winning  ten  points  made 
one  the  victor  in  the  game,  and,  according  to  some,  entitled  him  to 
claim  the  larger  forfeit,  such  as  was  customary  in  the  democratic 

235 


280  BUREAU    OF    AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bill.  38 

game  of  i(me.  The  payment  of  these  extreme  forfeits  was  delayed 
till  a  convenient  season,  or  might  be  commuted — ^on  grounds  of  policy, 
or  at  the  request  of  the  loser,  if  a  king  or  queen — by  an  equivalent 
of  land  or  other  valuable  possession.  Still  no  fault  could  be  found 
if  the  winner  insisted  on  the  strict  payment  of  the  forfeit. 

The  game  of  kilu  was  often  got  up  as  a  compliment,  a  supreme  ex- 
pression of  hosi)itality,  to  distinguished  visitors  of  rank,  thus  more 
than  making  good  the  polite  phrase  of  the  Spanish  don,  ''  all  that  I 
have  is  yours." 

The  fact  that  the  hula  kilu  was  performed  by  the  alii  class,  who 
took  great  pains  and  by  assiduous  practice  made  themselves  proficient 
that  they  might  be  ready  to  exhibit  their  accomplishment  before  the 
public,  was  a  guarantee  that  this  hula,  when  performed  by  them, 
would  be  of  more  than  usual  grace  and  vivacity.  When  performed 
in  the  halau  as  a  tabu  dance,  according  to  some,  the  olapa  alone  took 
part,  and  the  number  of  dancers,  never  very  large,  was  at  times 
limited  to  one  performer.  Authorities  differ  as  to  whether  any 
musical  instrument  was  used  as  an  accompaniment.  From  an  allu- 
sion to  this  dance  met  with  in  an  old  story  it  is  quite  certain  that  the 
drum  was  sometimes  used  as  an  accompaniment. 

Let  us  picture  to  ourselves  the  scene:  A  shadowy,  flower-scented 
hall ;  the  elite  of  some  HaAvaiian  court  and  their  guests,  gathered, 
in  accord  with  old-time  practice,  to  contend  in  a  tournament  of  wit 
and  grace  and  skill,  vying  with  one  another  for  the  prize  of  beauty. 
The  president  has  established  order  in  the  assembly;  the  opposing 
players  have  taken  their  stations,  each  one  seated  behind  his  target- 
block.  The  tallykeeper  of  one  side  now  makes  the  challenge.  "  This 
kilu,"  says  he,  "  is  a  love  token ;  the  forfeit  a  kiss."  An  Apollo  of  the 
oppositeside  joyfully  takes  up  the  gauge.  His  tallykeeper  introduces 
him  by  name.  Tie  plumes  himself  like  a  wild  bird  of  gay  feather, 
standing  forth  in  the  decorous  finery  of  his  rank,  girded  and  flower- 
bedecked  after  the  manner  of  the  halau,  eager  to  win  applause  for  his 
party  not  less  than  to  secure  for  himself  the  loving  reward  of  victory. 
In  his  hand  is  the' instrument  of  the  play,  the  kilu;  the  artillery  of 
love,  however,  with  which  he  is  to  assail  the  heart  and  warm  the 
imagination  of  the  fair  woman  opposed  to  him  is  the  song  he  shoots 
from  his  lips. 

The  story  of  the  two  songs  next  to  be  presented  is  one,  and  will 
show^  us  a  side  of  Hawaiian  life  on  which  we>  can  not  afford  en- 
tirely to  close  our  eyes.  During  the  stay  at  Lahaina  of  Kame- 
hameha,  called  the  Great — whom  an  informant  in  this  matter  always 
calls  "  the  murderer,"  in  protest  against  the  treacherous  assassina- 
tion of  Keoua,  which  took  j^lace  at  Kawaihae  in  Kamehameha's  very 
presence — a  high  chiefess  of  his  court  named  Kalola  engaged  in  a 
love  affair  with  a  young  num  of  rank  named  Ka'i-ama.     He  was 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN    LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  237 

much  her  junior,  but  this  did  not  prevent  his  infatuation.  Early 
one  morning  she  rose,  leaving  him  sound  asleep,  and  took  canoe  for 
Molokai  to  serve  as  one  of  the  escort  to  the  body  of  her  relative, 
Keola.  on  the  Avay  to  its  place  of  sepulture. 

Some  woman,  appreciating  the  situation,  posted  to  the  house  and 
waked  the  sleeper  with  the  information.  Ka'iama  hastened  to  the 
shore,  and  as  he  strained  his  vision  to  gain  sight  of  the  woman  of  his 
infatuation  the  men  at  the  paddles  and  the  bristling  throng  on  the 
central  platform — the  pola — of  the  craft,  vanishing  in  the  twilight, 
made  on  his  imagination  the  impression  of  a  hazy  mountain  thicket 
floating  on  the  waves,  but  hiding  from  view  some  rare  flower.  He 
gave  vent  to  his  feelings  in  song : 

Pua  ehn  kamalena  "  ka  nka  o  Kapa'a ; 
Luhi-ehu  iho  la  ^  ka  pua  i  Maile-htjna; 
Hele  a  ha  ka  iwi  ^  a  ke  Koolan, 
Ke  pua  mai  i  ka  maka  o  ka  naheleliele, 
5        I  hali  lioo-muū,<*  hoohalana  i  Wailua. 
Pa  kahea  a  Koolau-wahiue, 
O  Pua-ke'i,  e  -  e  -  e  -  e  ! 
He  pua  laukona  ^  ka  moe  e  aloli'  ai ; 
O  ia  moe  la,  e  kaulele  hou.^ 
10         No  ka  po  i  hala  aku  aku  nei. 

Hoi  ho  kaua  a  eloelo,  e  ka  hoa,  e, 
A  hooka hi  I 

[Trauslation] 

Misty  and  dim,  a  bush  in  the  wilds  of  Kapa'a, 
The  paddlers  bend  to  their  work,  as  the  flower-laden 
Shrub  inclines  to  the  earth  in  Maile-huna ; 
They  sway  like  reeds  in  the  breeze  to  crack  their  bones — 
5         Such  the  sight  as  I  look  at  this  tossing  grove, 
The  rhythmic  dip  and  swing  on  to  Wailua. 
My  call  to  the  witch  shall  fly  with  the  breeze. 
Shall  be  heard  at  Pua-ke'i,  e-he,  e-he ! 
The  flower-stalk  Laukona  beguiles  man  to  love, 
10         Can  bring  back  the  taste  of  joys  once  our  own, 

"  Pmq  ehu  kamalena  (yellow  child).  This  exclamation  is  descriptive  of  the  man's  visual 
impression  on  seeing  the  canoe  with  ils  crowd  of  passengers  and  paddlers,  in  the  misty 
light  of  morning,  receding  in  the  distance.  The  kamalena  is  a  mountain  shrub  having  a 
yellow   flower. 

^  Luhi  ehu  iho  la.  Refers  to  the  drooping  of  a  shrub  under  the  weight  of  its  leaves  and 
flowers,  a  figure  applied  to  the  bending  of  the  paddlemen  to  their  worlc. 

"■  Hele  a  ha  ka  iwi.  An  exaggerated  figure  of  speech,  referring  to  the  exertions  of  the 
men   at  their   paddles    {ha,   to   strain). 

<*  /  hali  hoomii.  This  refers  in  a  fine  spirit  of  exaggeration  to  the  regular  motions  of 
the  paddlers. 

«  Pua  laukona.  A  kind  of  sugar-cane  which  was  prescribed  and  used  by  the  kahunas  as 
an  aphrodisiac. 

f  Kaulele  hou.  To  experience,  or  to  enjoy,  again. 


238  BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

Make  real  a^'aiii  the  hours  that  are  flown. 

Turn  hither,  mine  own,  let's  drench  us  with  love — 

Just  for  one  nipht ! 

The  iincliivalrons  iiuliscretion  of  the  youth  in  publishing  the  secrei 
of  his  amour  elicited  from  Kamehameha  only  the  sarcastic  remark. 
"  Couldn't  he  eat  his  food  and  keep  his  mouth  shut?''  The  lady  her- 
self took  tiie  same  view  of  his  action.  There  was  no  evasion  in  her 
i*eply;  her  only  reproach  was  for  his  childishness  in  blabbing. 

Meīe 

Kal;ik;1laihi.  kaha  "  ka  I.a  nia  ko  kxv.x  <•  Leliua  ; 
Lulana  iho  la  ka  pihe  a  ke  Akua;  '^ 
Km  niai  ka  T'nulau '^  o  Halali'i ; 
Lawe  ke  Koolau-wahine*^  i  ka  hoa  la.  lilo: 
5         Hao  ka  Mikioi  ''  i  ke  kai  o  Lehua  : 

Puwa-i'a  na  hoa-makani  f  mai  lalo.  e-e-e,  a. 
I  hoonalonalo  i  ke  aloha,  pe'o  nia-loko; 
Ha'i  ka  wai-maka  hanini ; 
I  ike  aku  no  i  ka  uwe  ana  iho: 
10        Pela  wale  no  ka  hoa  kamalii,  e-e,  a ! 

I  Translation] 

Song 

The  sun-filrrow  gleams  at  the  back  of  Lehua ; 
The  King's  had  his  till  of  scandal  and  chaff: 
The  wind-god  enii)ties  his  lungs  with  a  laugh : 
And  the  MJkioi  tosses  the  sea  at  Lehua. 
5        As  the  trade-wind  wafts  his  friend  on  her  way — 
A  congress  of  airs  that  ruffles  the  bay. 
Hide  love  "neath  a  mask — that's  all  I  would  ask. 
To  spill  but  a  tear  makes  our  love-tale  appear ; 
He  iK)urs  out  his  woe ;  I've  seen  it,  I  know ; 
10         That's  the  way  with  a  boy-friend,  heigh-ho! 

The  art  of  translating  from  the  Hawaiian  into  the  English  tongue 
consists  largely  in  a  fitting  substitution  of  generic  for  specific  terms. 
The  Hawaiian,  for  instance,  had  at  command  scores  of  specific  names 
for  the  same  wind,  or  for  the  local  modifications  that  were  inflicted 

"  The  picture  of  the  sun  declining,  kahn,  to  the  west.  Its  reflected  light-track,  kaīa 
kalaihi.  furrowing  the  ocean  with  Klory,  may  he  taken  to  he  figurative  of  the  loved 
and  beaut Ifnl  woman.  Kalola.  speeding  on  her  westward  canoe-flight. 

'•  AkiKi.   Literally  a  god.  must  stand  for  the  king. 

*■  ("nulnu.  A  special  name  for  the  trade-wind. 

"^  Koolau  irafiinc.  Likewise  another  name  for  the  trade-wind,  ^lere  represented  as  carry- 
ing off  the    (man's)    companion. 

'  Mikioi.  An  Impetuous,  gusty  wind  Is  represented  as  lashing  the  ocean  at  Lehua.  thus 
picturing  the  emotional  stir  attending  Kalolas  departure. 

'The  words  Putra-i'n  na  Una  ninknni,  which  literally  mean  that  the  congress  of  winds. 
nn  hoa  wakani.  have  stirred  up  a  commotion,  even  as  a  school  of  fish  agitate  the  surface 
of  the  ocean,  puua-i'a,  refer  to  the  scandal  caused  by  Ka'i-ama's  conduct. 


EMEKSON]  UNWRITTEN    LITERATURE   OF    HAWAII  239 

upon  it  by  the  features  of  the  landscape.  One  might  almost  say  that 
every  cape  and  headland  imposed  a  new  nomenclature  upon  the 
breeze  whose  direction  it  influenced.  He  rarely  contented  himself 
with  using  a  broad  and  comprehensive  term  when  he  could  match 
the  situation  with  a  special  form. 

The  singer  restricts  her  blame  to  charging  her  youthful  lover  with 
an  indiscreet  exhibition  of  childish  emotion.  The  mere  display  of 
emotion  evinced  by  the  shedding  of  tears  was  in  itself  a  laudable 
action  and  in  good  form. 

This  first  reply  of  the  woman  to  her  youthful  lover  did  not  by  any 
means  exhaust  her  armament  of  retaliation.  When  she  next  treats 
of  the  affair  it  is  with  an  added  touch  of  sarcasm  and  yet  with  a 
sang  froid  that  proved  it  had  not  unsettled  her  nerves. 

Mcle 

Ula  Kala'e-loa  «  i  ka  lepo  a  ka  makani ;  • 

Hooiiu'anii'a  na  puk  i  Kalama-ula, 
He  hoa  i  ka  la'i  a  ka  manu — ^ 
Mann  ai  ia  i  ka  hoa  lankona. 
5        I  keke  lau-au'a  ia  e  ka  moe; 
E  kuhi  ana  ia  he  kanaka  e. 
Oau  no  keia  mai  luna  a  lalo; 
Huna  ke  aloha,  pe'e  maloko. 
Ike  'a  i  ka  nwe  ana  iho. 
10         Pela   ka  hoa  kamalii — 

He  uwe  wale  ke  kamalii. 

[Translation] 

Song 

Red  glows  Kala'e  through  the  wind-blown  dust 
That  defiles  the  flowers  of  Lama-ula, 
Outraged  by  the  croak  of  this  bird, 
That  eats  of  the  aphrodisiac  cane, 
5        And  then  boasts  the  privileged  bed. 
He  makes  me  a  creature  of  outlaw : 
True  to  myself  from  crown  to  foot-sole, 
My  love  I've  kept  sacred,  pent  up  within. 
He  flouts  it  as  common,  weeping  it  forth — 
10        That  is  the  way  with  a  child-friend : 
A  child  just  blubbers  at  nothing. 

To  return  to  the  description  of  the  game,  the  player,  having 
uttered  his  vaunt  in  true  knightly  fashion,  with  a  dexterous  whirl 
now  sends  his  kilu  spinning  on  its  course.  If  his  play  is  successful 
and  the  kilu  strikes  the  target  on  the  other  side  at  which  he  aims,  the 

"  Kala'e-loa.  The  full  name  of  the  place  on  Molokai  now  known  as  Kala'e. 

^  La'i  a  ka  manu.  Some  claim  this  to  be  a  proper  name,  Lu'i-a-k(i-manu,  that  of  a  plac; 
near  Kala'e.  However  that  may  be  the  poet  evidently  uses  the  phrase  here  in  its  etymo- 
logical sense. 


240  BUREAU    OF    AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bill.  38 

audionce,  who  have  kept  silence  till  now,  break  forth  in  applause,  and 
his  tally-keeper  proclaims  his  success  in  boastful  fashion: 

OH 

,  A  invcMuvr  ke  koe  a  ke  kae : 

I'liehuehu  ka  la,  koiiio  iiioino; 
Kakfa,  kalie  ka   ua   ilalu. 

ITranslation] 

Now  wrijrgles  the  worm  to  its  jjjoal : 
A  tousling;  a  basty  encounter: 
A  jrrai)i)le:  down  falls  the  rain. 

Tt  is  now  the  winner's  ri^ht  to  cross  over  and  claim  his  forfeit. 
The  audience  deals  out  applause  or  derision  in  unstinted  measure; 
the  enthusiasm  reaches  fever-point  when  some  one  makes  himself  the 
champion  of  the  game  by  bringing  his  score  up  to  ten,  the  limit.  The 
play  is  often  kept  up  till  morning,  to  be  resumed  the  following  night.« 

Here  also  is  a  mele,  which  tradition  reports  to  have  been  cantil- 
lated  by  Hiiaka,  the  sister  of  Pele,  during  her  famous  kilu  contest 
with  the  Princess  Pele-ula,  which  took  place  at  Kou — the  ancient 
name  for  Honolulu — on  Hiiaka's  voyage  of  return  from  Kauai  to 
her  sister's  court  at  Kilauea.  In  this  affair  Lohiau  and  Wahine- 
oma'o  contended  on  the  side  of  Hiiaka,  while  Pele-ula  was  assisted 
b}^  her  husband.  Kou,  and  by  other  experts.  But  on  this  occasion  the 
dice  were  cogged :  the  victory  was  Avon  not  by  human  skill  but  by  the 
magical  poAver  of  Hiiaka,  who  turned  Pele-ula's  kilu  away  from  the 
target  each  time  she  threw  it.  but  used  her  gift  to  compel  it  to  the 
mark  when  the  kilu  Avas  cast  by  herself. 

Mclc 

Ku'u  hoa  mai  ka  makani  kiiebu-kapa  o  Kalalau,^ 
Mai  na  pali  kii'i  ^"  o  Makua-iki, 
Ke  lawe  la  i  ka  haka,^  a  lilo ! 
A  lilo  o-e,  la  ! 
5         Ku'u  kane  i  ka  ubu  ka'i  o  Maka-pn'u, 
Huki  iluna  ka  Lae-o-ka-laau ;  '^ 
Oia   pali  makua-ole  f   olaila. 
Obiobi  ku  ka  pali  o  T'lamao.  e-e ! 
A  lilo  oe.  la  ! 

"  The  nccount  above  sjlven  Is  larRoly  based  on  David  Malos  description  of  the  game 
kilu.  In  his  confessedly  Imperfect  list  of  the  hulas  he  does  not  mention  the  hula  kilu. 
'I'hls  hula  was.  however.  Included  In  the  list  of  hulas  announced  for  performance  in  the 
programme  of  KinK  Kalakaua's  coronation  c»'romonics. 

'' Ka-Ialau  (in  the  translation  by  the  omission  of  the  article  ka,  shortened  to  Lalau). 
A  deep  cl iff  bound  vtilley  on  the  windward  side  of  Kauai,  accessilile  only  at  certain  times 
of  the  year  by  boats  and  by  a  steep  mountain  trail  at  Its  head. 

*•  Pali  ku'i.  Ku'l  means  literally  to  join  together,  to  splice  or  piece  out.  The  cliffs 
tower  one  a1)ovo  another  like  the  steps  of  a  stairway. 

«« Ilaka.  A  ladder  or  frame  such  as  was  laid  across  a  chasm  or  set  up  at  an  imi)assahle  place 
in  a  precipitous  road.     The  windward  side  of  Kauai  abf)Ut  Kalalau  abounded  in  such  places. 

<-  Lnr  u-ka  luou.     The  southwest   point  of  Molokal.  on  which  is  a  liglit-house. 

f  Miikun  i.U-.    Literally   fatherless.  p«Mhai)s  ir.eauhm  reniarkalile,   without   peer. 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN    LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  241 

[Translation] 

Song 

Comrade  mine  in  the  robe-stripping  gusts  of  Lalaii, 
On  the  up-piled  beetling  cliffs  of  Makua, 
The  ladder     *     *     *     is  taken  away     *     *     *     it  is  gone ! 
Your  way  is  cut  off,  my  man  ! 
5        With  you  I've  backed  the  uhu  of  Maka-pu'u, 

Tugging  them  up  the  steeps  of  Point-o'-woods, 
A  cliff"  that  stands  fatherless,  even  as 
Sheer  stands  the  pali  of  Ula-mao — 
And  thus     *     *     *     you  are  lost ! 

This  is  but  a  fragment  of  the  song  which  Hiiaka  pours  out  in  her 
efforts  to  calm  the  fateful  storm  which  she  saw  piling  up  along  the 
horizon.  The  situation  was  tragic.  Hiiaka,  daring  fate,  defying  the 
dragons  and  monsters  of  the  primeval  world,  had  made  the  journey 
to  Kauai,  had  snatched  away  from  death  the  life  of  Lohiau  and  with 
incredible  self-denial  was  escorting  the  rare  youth  to  the  arms  of  her 
sister,  whose  jealousy  she  knew  to  be  quick  as  the  lightning,  her  ven- 
geance hot  as  the  breath  of  the  volcano,  and  now  she  saw  this  feather- 
head,  with  monstrous  ingratitude,  dalhdng  with  fate,  calling  down 
upon  the  whole  party  the  doom  she  alone  could  appreciate,  all  for  the 
smile  of  a  siren  whose  charms  attracted  him  for  the  moment ;  but, 
worst  of  all,  her  heart  condemned  her  as  a  traitress — she  loved  him. 

Hiiaka  held  the  trick-card  and  she  won ;  by  her  miraculous  power 
she  kept  the  game  in  her  own  hands  and  foiled  the  hopes  of  the  lovers. 

Mele 

Ula  ka  lani  ia  Kanaloa,'^ 
Ula  ma'ema'e  ke  ahi  a  ke  A'e-loa.« 
Pohina  iluna  i  ke  ao  makani, 
Naue  pu  no  i  ka  ilikai  o  Makahana-Ioa,<^ 
5        Makemake  i  ka  ua  lihau.<^ 

Aohe  hana  i  koe  a  Ka-wai-loa ;  ^ 
Noho  a  ka  li'u-lā  i  ke  kula. 
I  kula  oe  no  ka  makemake,  a  hiki  iho, 
I  hoa  hula  no  ka  la  le'ale'a, 
10        I  noho  pu  me  ka  uahi  pohina.^ 

"  Kanaloa.  One  of  the  four  great  gods  of  the  Hawaiians,  here  represented  as  playing 
the   part   of   Phoebus   Apollo. 

*  A'e-loa.  The  name  of  a  wind  whose  blowing  was  said  to  be  favorable  to  the  fisher- 
man In  this  region. 

<=  Makahana-loa.  A  favorite  fishing  ground.  The  word  ilikai  ("skin  of  the  sea") 
graphically  depicts  the  calm  of  the  region.  In  the  translation  the  name  aforementioned 
has   been   shortened   to    Kahana. 

**  Lihau.  A  gentle  rain  that  was  considered  favorable  to  the  worlt  of  the  fisherman. 

'  Ka-uai-loa.  A  division  of  Waialua,   here  seemingly   used  to  mean  the  farm. 

f  Uahi  pohina.  Literally  gray-headed  smoice.  It  is  said  that  when  studying  together 
the  words  of  the  mele  the  pupils  and  the  kumu  would  often  gather  about  a  fire,  while 
the  teacher  recited  and  expounded  the  text.  There  is  a  possible  allusion  to  this  In  the 
mention   of   the   smoke. 

25352— Bull.  38—09 16 


242  BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

Hiua  oe  i  ka  Naulii,"  noho  i>u  me  ka  Iiiuwai.^ 

Akahi  no  a  pumehana  ka  hale,  iia  hiki  oe : 

Ma'ema'e  ka  luiia  i  Haupu/" 

Upu  ka  makeniake  e  ike  ia  Ka-ala. 
15         He  ala  ka  makemake  e  ike  ia  Liliu'e;'* 

Ku'u  Ilka  ia  uolio  ia  Ilalemaiio.'' 

Maanei  oe,  pale  oe,  pale  an, 

Hana  ne'e  ke  kikala  i  ka  ha'i  keiki. 

Hai'na  ka  nianao — noho  i  Waimea, 
20         Hoouu'u  pu  i  Iva  i'a  ku  o  ka  aina/ 

E  kala  oe  a  kala  an  a  kala  ia  Kn,  Ahueua.^ 

[Translation] 
Hftng 

Kanaloa  tints  heaven  with  a  blnsh, 

'Tis  the  flame  of  the  A'e,  pure  red, 

And  gray  the  wind-clonds  overhead. 

We  trndge  to  the  waters  calm  of  Kahana — 
5         Heaven  grant  us  a  favoring  shower ! 

The  work  is  all  done  on  the  farm. 

We  stay  till  twilight  steals  o'er  the  plain 

Then,  love-spurred,  tramp  o'er  it  again. 

Have  you  as  partner  in  holiday  dance — 
10         We've  moiled  as  one  in  the  gray  smoke; 

Cast  down  by  the  Naulu,  you  thirst. 

For  once  the  house  warms  at  your  coming. 

How  clear  glow  the  heights  of  yon  Ilanpu ! 

I  long  for  the  sight  of  Ka-ala, 
35        And  sweet  is  the  thought  of  IJhu'e, 

And  our  mountain  retreat,  Hale-niano. 

Here,  fenced  from  each  other  by  tabu. 

Your  graces  make  sport  for  the  crowd. 

What  then  the  solution?     Let  us  dwell 
20        At  Waimea  and  feast  on  the  fish 

That  swarm  in  the  neighboring  sea, 

With  freedom  to  you  and  freedom  to  me. 

Licensed  by  Ku  and  by  Ahu-ena. 

«  Naulu.  A    wind. 

^  Inu-icai.  A  wind  tliat  dried  up  vegetation,  liere  indicatin,?  tliirst. 

'■  Ilaupu.  A  mountain  on  Kauai,  sometimes  visil)lc  on  Oaliu  in  clear  weather.  (See 
note  ('.  \).  229,  on  Ilaupu. 

'' ĪAhu'e.  A  beautiful  and  romnntic  region  nestled,  ns  the  Ilawaiinns  say,  "between 
the  thighs  of  the  mountain,"'  Mount  Kaala. 

.  <•  Ilalr-niano.  Literally  the  mnltiludo  of  liouses  ;  a  sylvan  region  bound  to  the  south- 
western flank  of  the  Konahuanui  range  of  mountains,  a  region  of  legend  and  romance, 
since  the  coming  of  the  white  man  given  over  to  the  ravage  and  desolation  that  follow 
the  free-ranging  of  cattle  and  horses,  the  vaquero,  and  the  abusive  use  of  fire  and 
ax  by  the  woodman. 

f  I'a  l;i(  o  ka  aiiia.  Fish  common  to  a  region  ;  in  this  place  it  was  probably  the  Icala. 
which  word  is  found  In  the  next  line,  though  in  a  different  sense.  Here  the  expression 
Is  doubtless  a   euphemism   for  dalliance. 

»  Ku.  Ahucnu.  At  Waimea.  Oahu,  stood  two  rocks  on  the  opposite  hlnffs  that  sentineled 
the  bay.  These  rocks  wer*»  said  to  represent  respectively  the  gods  Ku  and  Ahuena, 
patrons   of   the    local    lishermeu. 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN    LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  243 

The  scene  of  this  idyl  is  laid  in  the  district  of  Waialua,  Oahu,  but 
the  poet  gives  his  imagination  free  range  regardless  of  the  unities. 
The  chief  subjects  of  interest  that  serve  as  a  trellis  about  which  the 
human  sentiments  entwine  concern  the  duties  of  the  fisherman,  who  is 
also  a  farmer;  the  school  for  the  hula,  in  which  the  hero  and  the 
heroine  are  pupils:  and  lastly  an  ideal  condition  of  happiness  which 
the  lovers  look  forward  to  under  the  benevolent  dispensation  of  the 
gods  Ku  and  Ahuena. 

Among  the  numerous  relatives  of  Pele  was  one  said  to  be  a  sister, 
who  was  stationed  on  a  bleak  sun-burnt  promontory  in  Koolau,  Oahu, 
where  she  supported  a  half-starved  existence,  striving  to  hold  soul 
and  body  together  by.  gathering  the  herbs  of  the  fields,  eked  out  by 
unsolicited  gifts  of  food  contributed  by  passing  travelers.  The  pa- 
thetic plaint  given  below  is  ascribed  to  this  goddess. 

Mele 

Mao  wale   i   ka   lani 

Ka   leo  o  ke  Akua  pololi. 

A  pololi  a  iiioe  au 

0  ku"u   la   pololi, 

5        A  ola   i  koii  alolia : 

1  iia'i  pu  no  i  ka  waimaku  e  iiwe  uei. 
E   uwe   kaiia,    e  I 

[Translation] 

Engulfed  in  lieaven's  abyss 
Is  the  cry  of  the  famished   K<>d. 
I  sank  to  the  ground  from  faintness. 
My  daj-  of  utter  starvation : 
5         Was  rescued,  revived,  by  your  love: 
Ours  a  contest  of  tears  sympathetic — 
Let  us  pour  out  together  our  tears. 

The  Hawaiian  thought  it  not  undignified  to  express  sympathy 
(aloha-ino)  with  tears. 


XXXVI.— THE  HULA  HOO-NA-XA 

The  hula  hoo-na-nd — to  quiet,  amuse — was  an  informal  dance, 
sucli  as  was  performed  without  the  usual  restrictions  of  tabu  that 
hedtjed  about  the  set  dances  of  the  halau.  The  occasion  of  an  out- 
door festival,  an  ahaaina  or  hiau^  was  made  the  opportunity  for  the 
exhibition  of  this  dance.  It  seems  to  have  been  an  expression  of  pure 
sportiveness  and  mirth-making,  and  was  therefore  performed  with- 
out sacrifice  or  religious  ceremony.  AYhile  the  king,  chiefs,  and 
(dalo — courtiers  who  ate  in  the  king's  presence — are  sitting  with  the 
guests  about  the  festal  board,  two  or  three  dancers  of  graceful  car- 
riage make  a  circuit  of  the  place,  ambling,  capering,  gesturing  as 
they  go  in  time  to  the  words  of  a  gay  song. 

A  performance  of  this  sort  was  witnessed  by  the  author's  infor- 
mant in  Honolulu  many  years  ago;  the  occasion  was  the  giving  of  a 
royal  luau.  There  was  no  musical  instrument,  the  performers  were 
men,  and  the  mele  they  cantillated  went  as  follows: 

A  pili.  i\  pili. 
•A  pili  kji'ii  inaiiu 
Ke  ke[)au«  o  ka  iilii-IjiMu. 
Poai  a  piinl. 
5         Nolio  ana  1  iniili-wa'a  :  * 

Hooim'u  ka  iiiomona  a  ke  alii. 
Eli-eli  ^  ke  kapii ;  ua  noa. 
Noa  ia  wai? 
Noa  ia  ka  lani. 
10         Kan  lilua,*^  kaobi  ka  iiiaku'u 
E  ai  ana  ka  ai  a  ke  alii  ! 
Hoonn'n,  hoonii'n  lioonu'ii 
I  ka  i'a  a  ke  alii ! 


"  Krp6u.  r.nm.  the  bird-Hmo  of  the  fowlor.  which  was  olitainod  from  forost  trees,  but 
especially    from    the    ulu,    the    breadfruit. 

^"  MiiH-irn'd  (»»»//».  a  term  applied  to  a  .voun;;er  brother).  The  idea  involved  is  that  of 
8ei)aratlon  by  an  Interval,  as  a  younKei"  brother  is  separated  from  his  older  brother  by 
an  Interval.  Muliimi  Is  an  interval  of  water,  a  stream.  Wa'ii.  the  last  part  of  the  above 
(•<iinj)o»ind  word,  literally  a  canoo,  is  here  used  tropically  4o  mean  the  tables,  or  the 
dishes,  on  which  fhe  food  was  spread.  Uiey  beinj?  lonp;  and  narrow,  in  the  shape  of  a 
ranoe.  The  whole  term,  consequently,  refers  to  the  people  and  the  table  about  which 
they    are   seated. 

*■  Kli-rli.  A  word  that  is  foiind  in  ancient  prayers  to  emphasize  the  word  k<ti)u  or 
the    word    non. 

''  IjHihi.  To  stand  erect  and  act  without  tin-  restraint  usually  prescribed  in  the  presence 
of   royalty. 

244 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE   OF   HAWAII  245 

[Translation] 

She  is  limed,  slie  is  limed, 
My  bird  is  limed. 
With  the  gum  of  the  forest. 
We  make  a  great  circuit, 
5         Outskirting  the  feast. 

You  shall  feast  on  king's  bounty : 
No  fear  of  the  tabu,  all's  free. 
Free !  and  by  whom  ? 
Free  by  the  word  of  the  king. 
10        Then  a  free  rein  to  mirth ! 
Banish  the  kill-joy 
Who  eats  the  king's  dainties! 
Feast  then  till  replete 
With  the  good  king's  meat ! 


XXXVTT.— THE  HULA  ULILI 

The  liula  vlili,  also  calkMl  by  the  descriptive  name  kolili — to  wave 
or  flutter,  as  a  pennant — was  a  hnla  that  was  not  at  all  times  con- 
fined to  the  tabu  restrictions  of  the  halau.  T^ike  a  truant  schoolboy, 
it  deliijhted  to  bi-eak  loose  fi'om  restraint  and  join  the  informal  pleas- 
urin<rs  of  the  people.  Imagine  an  assembly  of  men  and  women  in 
the  picturesque  illumination  given  by  flaring  kukui  torches,  the  men 
on  one  side,  the  women  on  the  other.  Husbands  and  wives,  smoth- 
ering the  jealousy  instinctive  to  the  human  heart,  are  there  by 
mutual  consent — their  daughters  they  leave  at  home — each  one  ready 
to  play  his  part  to  the  finish,  with  no  thought  of  future  recrimina- 
tion. It  was  a  game  of  love-forfeits,  on  the  same  lines  as  kilu  and 
ume. 

Two  men,  armed  with  wands  furnished  with  tufts  of  gay  feathers, 
pass  up  and  down  the  files  of  men  and  women,  waving  their  deco- 
rated staffs,  ever  and  anon  indicating  with  a  touch  of  the  wand  per- 
sons of  the  opposite  sex.  who  under  the  rules  must  pay  the  forfeit 
demanded  of  them.  The  kissing,  of  course,  goes  by  favor.  The 
Avand -bearers,  as  they  move  along,  troll  an  amorous  ditty: 

on 

Kii  na  ka  ipo     *     =■'     * 
Mahele-hele  i  ka  la  o  Kona  !  " 
O  Kona.  kai  a  ke  Akua.'^ 
Rlua   la,   huli   ka   Wai-opna,'' 
.n        Nelie  i  ke  kiila, 

Leha  iluna  o  Wal-aloha.'^ 
Kani  ka  aka  a  ka  iia  i  ka  laau, 
Hoolaaii  ana  i  ke  aloha  ilaila. 
IMli  la,  a  pili  i  ka'n  nianii — 
K)        ()  pill  o  ka  La-liiki-ola. 
Ola  ke  kini  o-lalo. 
Hana  i  ka  niea  be  ipo. 
A  hui  e  hiii  la  ! 
Hui  Koolau-wahine  ^  o  Pua-ke-f !  f 


"  La  n  Kona.   A  dny  of  Kona.  I.  e..  of  fine  weather. 

''AV/j  (/   ke  Akun.      Sea   of  tlie  «oils,   because  calm. 

*•  Wai-apua.  A  wind  which  chauyed  its  direi-tion  after  biowinj;  for  a  few  days  from  one 
quarter. 

<*  Wai-alohu.  The  name  of  a  lilll.  In  the  translation  tlie  author  has  followed  its  mean- 
ing  ("  water  of  love  "). 

'Koolau-wahine.  The  name  of  a  refreshing;  wind,  often  n\entioned  in  Hawaiian  poetry: 
here  used  as  a  symlx)!  of  female  aflTection. 

f  Pua-kei.  The  name  of  a  sharp,  bracing  wind  felt  on  the  windward  side  of  Molokai ; 
used  here  ai)pareutly  as  a  symbol  of  strong  masculine  passion. 

246 


EMERSoxl  UNWRITTEN    LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  247 

[Translation] 

Song 

A  search  for  a  sweetheart     *     *     ♦ 

Sport  for  a  Kona  day ! 

Kona,  calm  sea  of  the  gods. 

Two  days  the  wind  surges; 
5         Then,  magic  of  cloud  ! 

It  veers  to  the  plain, 

Drinks  up  the  water  of  love. 

How  gleesome  the  sound 

Of  rain  on  the  trees, 
10        A  balm  to  love's  wound  ! 

The  wand  touches,  heart-ease! 

It  touches  my  bird — 

Touch  of  life  from  the  sun ! 

Brings  health  to  the  million. 
15         Ho,  now  comes  the  fun ! 

A  meeting,  a  union — 

The  nymph,  Koo-lau, 

And  the  hero,  Ke-i. 


XXXVITT.— THE  HULA  O-NTU 

The  so-called  hula  o-nhi  is  not  to  be  classed  with  the  regular  dances 
of  the  halau.  It  was  rather  a  popular  sport,  in  which  men  and 
women  capered  about  in  an  informal  dance  while  the  players  engaged 
in  a  competitive  game  of  top-spinning.  The  instrument  of  sport  was 
made  from  the  lower  pointed  half  of  an  oval  coconut  shell,  or  from 
the  corresponding  part  of  a  small  gourd.  The  sport  was  conducted 
in  the  presence  of  a  mixed  gathering  of  people  amid  the  enthusiasm 
and  boisterous  eifervescence  which  betting  always  greatly  stimulated 
in  Hawaii. 

The  players  were  divided  into  two  sides  of  equal  number,  and  each 
player  had  before  him  a  plank,  slightly  hollowed  in  the  center — like 
the  board  on  which  the  Hawaiians  pounded  their  poi — to  be  used  a3 
the  bed  for  spinning  his  top.  The  naked  hand,  unaided  by  whip  or 
string,  was  used  to  impart  to  the  rude  top  a  spinning  motion  and  at 
the  same  time  the  necessary  projectile  force — a  balancing  of  forces 
that  called  for  nice  adjustment,  lest  the  whirling  thing  reel  too  far  to 
one  side  or  run  wild  and  fly  its  smooth  bed.  Victory  was  declared 
and  the  wager  given  to  the  player  whose  top  spun  the  longest. 

The  feature  that  most  interests  us  is  the  singing,  or  cantillation,  of 
the  oli.  In  a  dance  and  game  of  this  sort,  which  the  author's  inform- 
ant witnessed  at  Kahuku,  Oahu,  in  1844,  one  contestant  on  each  side, 
in  turn,  cantillated  an  oli  during  the  performance  of  the  game  and 
the  dance. 

OH 

Ke  poM  nei :  u'lna  la  ! 
Kani  61e-o]ēi,  baii-walaau  ! 
Ke  wawa  Pu'u-hina-hina  ;  « 
Kani  ka  aka,  he-hene  na  pali, 
5         Na  pali  o  Ka-iwi-ku'i.^ 

Ilanohano,  uiakana   i   ka   Wai-opna/ 
Malibini  ka  hale,  ua  hiki  mai ; 
Kani  ka  pahn  a  Lohiau, 
A  Lohiau-ipo  <*  i  Haeua  la. 
10         Knaena  ke  aloha,  ke  hiki  niai: 

"  Pu'u-hinn-hina.   A  precipitous  place  on  the  coast   near  Ilaena. 

"  Ka-iui-ku'i.  A  high  cliff  against  which  the  waves  dash. 

'   \Vai-f)})ua.   The  name  of  a   pleasant  breeze. 

''  Luhiiiu-ipo.  The  epithet  ipo,  sweetheart,  dear  one.  was  often  atflxed  to  the  name  of 
Lohiau.  in  tolten,  no  doubt,  of  his  being  distinguished  as  the  object  of  Pele's  passionate 
regard. 

248 


KMEBSON]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE   OF   HAWAII  249 

Auaii  i  ka  wai  a  Kanaloa.*^ 
Nana  kaua  ia  Lima-huli,*  e. 
E  huli  oe  a  loaa  pono 
Ka  ia  nei  o-niu. 

f  Translation] 
Hong 

The  rustle  and  hum   of  spinning  top, 
Wild   laughter   and   babel   of   sound — 
Hear   the   roar   of  the   waves   at   Pu'u-hina ! 
Bursts  of  derision  echoed  from  cliffs, 
5         The  cliffs   of  Ka-iwi-ku'i ; 

And  the  day  is  stirred  by  a  breeze. 
The  house  swarms  with  women  and  men. 
List !  the  drum-beat  of  Lohiau, 
Lohiau,   the  lover,  prince  of  Haena — 
10        Love  glows  like  an  oven  at  his  coming; 
Then  to  bathe  in  the  lake  of  the  God. 
Let  us  look  at  the  vale  Lima-huli,  look ! 
Now  turn  we  and  study  the  spinning — 
That  trick  we  must  catch  to  be  winning. 

This  fragment  from  antiquity,  as  the  local  coloring  indicates,  finds 
its  setting  at  Haena,  the  home  of  the  famous  mythological  Prince 
Lohiau,  of  whom  Pele  became  enamored  in  her  spirit  journey.  Study 
of  the  mele  suggests  the  occasion  to  have  been  the  feast  that  was  given 
in  celebration  of  Lohiau's  restoration  to  life  and  health  through  the 
persevering  incantations  of  Hiiaka,  Pele's  beloved  sister.  The  feast 
was  also  Lohiau's  farewell  to  his  friends  at  Haena.  At  its  conclusion 
Hiiaka  started  \^  ith  her  charge  on  the  journey  which  ended  with  the 
tragic  death  of  Lohiau  at  the  brink  of  the  volcano.  Pele  in  her 
jealousy  poured  out  her  fire  and  consumed  the  man  whom  she  had 
loved. 

"  Kanaloa.  There  is  a  deep  basin  of  clear  water,  almost  fluorescent  in  its  sparkle,  in  one 
of  the  arched  caves  of  Haena,  which  Is  called  the  water  of  Kanaloa — the  name  of  the  great 
God.     This  is  a  favorite  bathing  place. 

''  Lima-huli.  The  name  of  a  beautiful  valley  that  lies  back  of  Haena. 


XXXTX.— THE  HULA  KIT'T 

The  account  of  the  Hawaiian  hulas  would  bo  incomplete  if  without 
mention  of  the  hula  A;?/'/.  This  was  an  invention,  or  introduction, 
of  the  last  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Its  formal,  public,  ap- 
pearance dates  from  the  coronation  ceremonies  of  the  late  King  Kala- 
kaua,  188e3,  when  it  filled  an  important  place  in  the  programme.  Of 
the  2()2  hula  performances  listed  for  exhibition,  some  30  were  of  the 
hula  ku'i.  This  is  perhaps  the  most  democratic  of  the  hulas,  and 
from  the  date  of  its  introduction  it  sprang  at  once  into  public  favor. 
Not  many  years  ago  one  could  witness  its  extemporaneous  perform- 
ance by  nonprofessionals  at  many  an  entertainment  and  festive  gath- 
ering. Even  the  school -children  took  it  up  and  might  frequently  be 
seen  innocently  footing  its  measures  on  the  streets.     (PL  xxrv.) 

The  steps  and  motions  of  the  hula  ku'i  to  the  eyes  of  the  author 
resemble  those  of  some  Spanish  dances.  The  rhythm  is  in  common, 
or  double,  time.     One  observes  the  following  motions : 

Figure  A. — 1.  A  step  obliquely  forward  with  the  left  foot,  arms 
pointing  the  same  way,  body  inclining  to  the  right.  2.  The  ball  of 
the  left  foot  (still  advanced)  gently  pressed  on  the  floor;  the  heel 
swings  back  and  fortli,  describing  an  arc  of  some  30  or  40  degrees. 
3.  The  left  foot  is  set  firmly  in  the  last  position,  the  body  inclining 
to  it  as  the  base  of  support;  the  right  foot  is  advanced  obliquely, 
and  4,  performs  the  heel-swinging  motions  above  described,  arms 
pointing  obliquely  to  the  right. 

Figure  B. — Hands  pressed  to  the  w^aist,  fingers  directed  forward, 
thumbs  backward,  elbows  well  away  from  the  body;  left  foot  ad- 
vanced as  in  figure  A,  1,  body  inclining  to  the  right.  2.  The  left  foot 
performs  the  heel-waving  motions,  as  above.  3.  Hands  in  same  po- 
sition, right  foot  advanced  as  previously  described.  4.  Tlie  right 
foot  performs  the  swinging  motions  previously  described — the  body 
inclined  to  the  left. 

Figure  C. — In  this  figure,  while  the  hands  are  pressed  as  before 
against  the  waist,  with  the  elbows  thrown  well  away  from  the  body, 
the  performer  sways  the  pelvis  and  central  axis  of  the  trunk  in  a  cir- 
cular or  elliptical  orbit,  a  movement,  which,  carried  to  the  extreme, 
is  termed  ami. 

There  are  other  figures  and  modifications,  which  the  ingenuity  and 
fancy  of  performers  have  introduced  into  this  dance ;  but  this  account 
must  suffice. 
250 


BUREAU  OF  AMERICAN   ETHNOLOGY 


BULLETIN  38     PLATE  XXIV 


LADY    DANCING    THE    HULA    KU'I 


KMERSON]  UNWRITTEN    LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  251 

Given  a  demand  for  a  pas  senh  some  pleasing  dance  combining 
grace  with  dexterity,  a  shake  of  the  foot,  a  twist  of  the  body,  and  a 
wave  of  the  hands,  the  hula  ku'i  filled  the  bill  to  perfection.  The 
\QT\  fact  that  it  belonged  by  name  to  the  genus  hula,  giving  it.  as 
it  were,  the  smack  of  forbidden  fruit,  only  added  to  its  attractiveness. 
It  became  all  the  rage  among  dancing  folk,  attaining  such  a  vogue 
as  almost  to  cause  a  panic  among  the  tribunes  and  censors  of  society. 
Even  to  one  who  cares  nothing  for  the  hula  per  se.  save  as  it  might 
be  a  spectacle  out  of  old  Hawaii,  or  a  setting  for  an  old-time  song, 
the  innocent  grace  and  Delsartian  flexibility  of  this  solo  dance,  which 
one  can  not  find  in  its  Keltic  or  African  congeners,  associate  it  in 
mind  with  the  joy  and  light-heartedness  of  man's  Arcadian  period. 

The  instruments  generally  used  in  the  musical  accompaniment  of  the 
hula  ku'i  are  the  guitar,  the  vhv-lele^^  the  taro-patch  fiddle."  or  the 
mandolin;  the  piano  also  lends  itself  effectively  for  this  purpose;  or 
a  combination  of  these  may  be  used. 

The  songs  that  are  sung  to  this  dance  as  a  rule  belong  naturally  to 
later  productions  of  the  Hawaiian  muse,  or  to  modifications  of  old 
poetical  compositions.  The  following  mele  was  originally  a  name- 
song  (mele-inoa).  It  was  appropriated  by  the  late  Princess  Kino-iki : 
and  by  her  it  was  passed  on  to  Kalani-ana-ole,  a  fact  which  should 
not  prejudice  our  appreciation  of  its  beauty. 

I  aloha  i  ke  ko  a  ka  wai. 
I  ka  i  mai,  e,  aim  kana. 
Ua  anu  iia  pua  o  ka  laina,^ 
Ka  wahine  noho  afiii  o  ke  knla. 
ii        A  Inna  au  a  o  Poli-aliu ;  ^ 
Ahu  wale  kai  a  o  Waī-lua. 
Lua-ole  ka  hana  a  ka  makani, 
A  ke  Kiii-ke'e  <^  a  o  ua  pali. 
Pa  iho  i  ke  kai  a  o  Pima — 
10        Ko  Puna  mea  ma 'a  man  ia. 
Pan  ai  ko'n  lihi  holhoi 
I  ka  wai  awili  me  ke  kai. 
Ke  ono  hon  nei  ku'u  pu'u 
I  ka  wai  hu'ihu'i  o  ka  uka, 

"  The  uku-lelp  and  the  taro-patc7>  ffhUe  are  stringed  instruments  resembllns:  in  greneral 
appearance  the  fiddle.  They  seem  to  have  been  introduced  into  these  islands  by  the 
Portuguese  immigrants  who  have  come  in  within  the  last  twenty-five  years.  As  with  the 
guitar,  the  four  strings  of  the  uku-lele  or  the  five  strings  of  the  taro-patch  fiddle  are 
plucked  with  the  finger  or  thumb. 

^  Va  i)ua  o  ku  īaina.  The  intent  of  this  expression,  which  seems  to  have  an  erotic 
meaning,  may  perhaps  be  inferred  from  its  literal  rendering  in  the  translation.  It  re- 
quires a  tropical  imagination  to  follow  a  Hawaiian  poem. 

*■  PoU-ahu.   A  place  or  region  on  Mauna-kea. 

^  Kiu-ke'e.  The  name  of  a  wind  felt  at  Nawiliwili.  Kauai.  The  local  names  for  winds 
differed  on  the  various  islands  and  were  multiplied  almost  without  measure  :  as  given  in 
the  mythical  story  of  Kama-pua'a,  or  in  the  semihistoric  tale  of  Kfl-a-Paka'a,  they  taxed 
the  memories  of  raconteurs. 


252  BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

ir»         \V;ii  hone  i  kv  kuiiiii  o  ka  pali, 

I  Ilia  III  i  ka  lau  kui-kui.'^ 

Ke  kuhi  iiei  au  a  he  pouo 

Ka  ilima  lei  a  ke  aloha, 

An  i  kan  nni  akn  ai, 
lio         I  ka  nani  oi  a  oia  pua.  * 

I  Translation! 

Song 

How  pleasing,  when  borne  by  the  tide, 

One  says,  yon  and  I  are  a-cold. 

The  bnds  of  the  center  are  chilled 

Of  the  woman  who  shivers  on  shore. 
5         I  stood  on  the  height  Poli-ahn : 

The  ocean  enrobed  Wai-lua. 

Ah,  strange  are  the  pranks  of  the  wind, 

The  Kin-ke'e  wind  of  the  pali  ! 

It  smites  now  the  ocean  at  Pnna — 
10        That's  always  the  fashion  at  Puna. 

Gone,  gone  is  the  last  of  my  love, 

At  this  mixture  of  brine  in  my  drink ! 

My  mouth  is  a-thirst  for  a  draught 

Of  the  cold  mountain-water, 
15        That  plays  at  the  foot  of  the  cliff, 

111  the  shade  of  the  kui-kui  tree. 

I  thought  our  love-flower,  ilima — 

Oft  wf'rn  as  a  garland  by  you — 

Still  held  its  color  most  true. 
20         You'd  exchange  its  beauty  for  rue ! 

Mele 

Kaulana  mai  nei  Pua  Lanakila ; 
Olali  oe  o  ke  aupuni  hui, 
Nana  i  koke  aku  ke  kahua, 
Xa  ale  o  ka  Pakipika. 
5         Lilo  i  mea  ole  na  enemi : 

Puuwai  hao-kila,  he  manao  paa : 
Na  Ka  iiupepa  la  i  hoike  mai. 
Va  kau  Lanakila  i  ka  hanohano, 

0  ka  u'i  mapela  la  o  Aina-hau ; 
10        O  ko'u  boa  ia  la  e  pill  ai— 

1  hoa  kaana  i  ka  puuwai, 

I  na  kohl  kelekele  i  ka  Pu'ukolu. 
Ina   ilaila   Pua  Komela, 
Ka  u'i  kaulana  o  Aina-pua  ! 
ir»         O  ka  i»ua  o  ka  I^ehua  me  ka  Ilima 
I   lei   kahiko  no  ko'u  kino, 
Ka  Palai  lau-lii  me  ka  Maile, 
Ke  a  la  e  hoene  i  kou  poli. 

"  Kut-kui.  The  older  name-form  of  the  tree  (Aleurites  triloba),  popularly  known  by 
somo  as  the  candlo-nut  treo,  from  the  fact  that  Its  oily  nuts  were  used  in  malting  torches. 
Kuktii,  or  lului,  is  the  name  now  applied  to  the  tree,  also  to  a  torch  or  lamp.  The  Sa- 
nioan  lanf^uage  still  retains  the  archaic  name  tuitiii.  This  Is  one  of  the  few  instances 
in  which  the  original  etymology  of  a  word  Is  retained  in  Hawaiian  poetry. 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  253 

[Translation] 
Song 

Fame  trumpets  your  conquests  each  -day, 

Brave  Lily  Victoria  ! 

Your  scepter  finds  new  hearts  to  sway, 

Subdues  the  Pacific's  wild  waves, 
5  Your  foes  are  left  stranded  ashore, 

Firm  heart  as  of  steel ! 

Dame  Rumor  tells  us  with  glee 

Your  fortunes  wax  evermore, 

Beauty  of  Aina-hau, 
10         Comrade  dear  to  my  heart. 

And  what  of  the  hyacinth  maid. 

Nymph  of  the  Flowery  Land? 

I  choose  the  lehua,  ilima. 

As  my  wreath  and  emblem  of  love, 
15        The  small-leafed  fern  and  the  maile — 

What  fragrance  exhales  from  thy  breast ! 

The  story  that  might  explain  this  modern  lyric  belongs  to  the  gos- 
sip of  half  a  century  ago.  The  action  hinges  about  one  who  is  styled 
Pua  Lanakila — literally  Flower  of  Victory.  Now  there  is  no  flower, 
indigenous  or  imported,  known  by  this  name  to  the  Hawaiians.  It  is 
an  allegorical  invention  of  the  poet.  A  study  of  the  name  and  of  its 
interpretation.  Victory,  at  once  suggested  to  me  the  probability  that 
it  was  meant  for  the  Princess  Victoria  Kamamalu. 

As  I  interpret  the  story,  the  lover  seems  at  first  to  be  in  a  condition 
of  unstable  equilibrium,  but  finally  concludes  to  cleave  to  the  flowers 
of  the  soil,  the  lehua  and  the  ilima  (verse  15) ,  the  palai  and  the  7naile 
(verse  17),  the  meaning  of  which  is  clear. 


XL.— THE  OLĪ 

The  Hawaiian  word  mcle  included  all  forms  of  poetical  composi- 
tion. The  fact  that  the  niele,  in  whatever  form,  was  intended  for 
cantillation,  or  some  sort  of  rhythmical  utterance  addressed  to  the 
ear,  has  given  to  this  Avord  in  modern  times  a  special  meaning  that 
covers  the  idea  of  song  or  of  singing,  thus  making  it  overlap  ambigu- 
ously into  the  territory  that  more  properly  belongs  to  the  word  olL 
The  oli  was  in  strict  sense  the  Ij^ric  utterance  of  the  Haw^aiians. 

In  its  most  familiar  form  the  Hawaiians — many  of  whom  pos- 
sessed the  gift  of  improvisation  in  a  remarkable  degree — used  the  oli 
not  only  for  the  songful  expression  of  joy  and  affection,  but  as  the 
vehicle  of  humorous  or  sarcastic  narrative  in  the  entertainment  of 
their  comrades.  The  traveler,  as  he  trudged  along  under  his  swaying 
burden,  or  as  he  rested  by  the  wayside,  w^ould  solace  himself  and  his 
companions  with  a  pensive  improvisation  in  the  form  of  an  oli.  Or, 
sitting  about  the  camp-fire  of  an  evening,  without  the  consolation  of 
the  social  i)ipe  or  bowl,  the  people  of  the  olden  time  would  keep  warm 
the  fire  of  good-fellowship  and  cheer  by  the  sing-song  chanting  of  the 
oli.  in  which  the  extemporaneous  bard  recounted  the  cA^ents  of  the 
day  and  won  the  latighter  and  applause  of  his  audience  by  witty, 
ofttimes  exaggerated,  allusions  to  many  a  humorous  incident  that  had 
marked  the  journey.  If  a  traveler,  not  knowing  the  language  of  the 
country,  noticed  his  Hawaiian  guide  and  baggage-carriers  indulging 
in  mirth  while  listening  to  an  oli  by  one  of  their  number,  he  would 
probably  be  right  in  suspecting  himself  to  be  the  innocent  butt  of 
their  merriment. 

The  lover  poured  into  the  ears  of  his  mistress  his  gentle  fancies: 
the  mother  stilled  her  child  with  some  bizarre  allegory  as  she  rocked 
it  in  her  arms;  the  bard  favored  by  royalty — the  poet  laureate — 
amused  the  idle  moments  of  his  chief  with  some  witty  improvisation; 
the  alii  himself,  gifted  with  the  poetic  fire,  would  air  his  humor  or 
lli.^  didactic  comments  in  rhythmic  shape— all  in  the  form  of  the  oli. 

The  dividing  line,  then,  between  the  oli  and  those  other  weightier 
forms  of  the  mele,  the  inon,  the  kanikav  (threnody),  the  pule^  and 
that  unnamed  variety  of  mele  in  which  the  poet  dealt  with  historic 
or  mythologic  subjects,  is  to  be  found  almost  wholly  in  the  mood 
of  the  singer.  In  truth,  the  Hawaiians  not  unfrequently  applied  the 
term  pule  to  comi^ositions  which  we  moderns  find  it  hard  to  bring 
within   our   definitions  of  prayer.     For  to  our   understanding  the 

254 


EMERSOX]  UNWRITTEN    LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  255 

Hawaiian  pule  often  contains  neither  petition,  nor  entreaty,  nor  aspi- 
ration, as  we  measure  such  things. 

The  oli  from  its  very  name  {oli-oli,  joyful)  conveys  the  notion  of 
gladness,  and  therefore  of  song.  It  does  not  often  run  to  such  length 
as  the  more  formal  varieties  of  the  mele ;  it  is  more  likely  to  be  pitched 
to  the  key  of  lyric  and  unconventional  delight,  and,  as  it  seems  to 
the  writer,  more  often  than  other  forms  attains  a  gratifying  unity  by 
reason  of  closer  adherence  to  some  central  thought  or  mood;  albeit, 
when  not  so  labeled,  one  might  well  be  at  a  loss  whether  in  any  given 
case  he  should  term  the  composition  mele  or  oli. 

It  may  not  be  entirely  without  significance  that  the  first  and  second 
examples  here  given  come  from  Kauai,  the  island  which  most  vividly 
has  retained  a  memory  of  the  southern  lands  that  wefe  the  homes  of 
the  people  until  the}'  came  as  emigrants  to  Hawaii. 

The  story  on  which  this  song  is  founded  relates  that  the  comely 
Pamaho'a  was  so  fond  of  her  husband  during  his  life  that  at  his  death 
she  was  unwilling  to  part  with  his  bones.  Having  cleaned  and 
wrapped  them  in  a  bundle,  she  carried  them  with  her  wherever  she 
went.  In  the  indiscretion  begotten  of  her  ill-balanced  state  of  mind 
she  committed  the  mortal  offense  of  entering  the  royal  residence 
while  thus  encumbered,  where  was  Kaahumanu,  favorite  wife  of 
Kamehameha  I.  The  king  detailed  two  constables  {'ilamuku)  to 
remove  the  woman  and  put  her  to  death.  When  they  had  reached  a 
safe  distance,  moved  with  pity,  the  men  said:  "  Our  orders  were  to 
slay;  but  what  hinders  3^ou  to  escape?"  The  woman  took  the  hint 
and  fled  hot- foot. 

on 

Ka  vvai  opua-makani  o  Wailua," 
I  hulihia  e  ke  kai ; 
Awahia  ka  lau  hau, 
Ai  pala-ka-M,  ka  ai  o  Maka'u-kiu. 
5         He  kin  ka  pua  kiikni, 

He  elele  hooholo  na  ke  Koolau ;  ^ 
Ke  kipakn  mai  la  i  ka  \Ya'a — ^ 
"  E  holo  oe  I  " 

Holo  newa  ka  lau  maia  me  ka  pna  liau, 
10        I  pili  alolia  me  ka  mokila  iila  i  ka  wai; 
Maalo  pnlelo  i  ka  wai  o  Malu-aka. 
He  aka  kaua  makani  kaili-hoa ; 
Kaili  ino  ka  lau  Malua-kele, 
Lalau,  hopu  hewa  i  ka  hoa  kanaka  :  '^ 

« The  scene  is  laid  in  the  region  about  the  Wailua,  a  river  on  Kauai.  This  stream, 
tossed  with  waves  driven  up  from  the  sea,  represents  figuratively  the  disturbance  of  the 
woman's  mind  at  the  coming  of  the  officers. 

''Koolau.  The  name  of  a  wind:  stands  for  thp  messengers  of  the  king,  whose  instruc- 
tions were  to  expel  {kipaku,  verse  7)  and  then  to  slay. 

'■  Wa'a.    Literally   canoe ;    stands   for   the   woman    lierself. 

''Hoa  kanaka.  Human  companion;  is  an  allusion  to  the  bundle  of  iur  husband's  iiom-s 
which  she  carries  with  her,  but  which  are  torn  away  and  lost  in  the  flood. 


256  BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [blll.  38 

15        Koe  a  kau  me  ka  inanao  iloko. 

Ke  apo  wale  la  no  i  ke  one, 

I  ka  uwe  wale  iho  no  i  Mo'o-mo'o-iki,<^  e! 

He  ike  nioolelo  na  ke  kuhl  wale, 

Aole  ma  ka  waha  mai  o  kar.aka. 
20         Hewa,  pono  ai  la  hoi  au,  e  ka  hoa ; 

Nou  ka  ke  aloha, 

I  lua-ai-ele  ^  ai  i  o,  i  auei ; 

Ua  kuewa  i  ke  ala  me  ka  wai-maka. 

Aohe  wa,  ua  nkii  i  kon  hale — 
25         Hewa  au,  e! 

[Translation] 
S<mg 

The  wind-beaten  stream  of  Wailua 

Is  tossed  into  waves  from  the  sea ; 

Salt-drenched  are  the  leases  of  the  hau, 

The  stalks  of  the  taro  all  rotted — 
5         'Twas  the  crop  of  Maka'u-kiu. 

The  flowers  of  kukui  are  a  telltale, 

A  messenger  sped  by  the  gale 

To  warn  the  canoe  to  depart. 

l*ray  you  depart ! 
10         Hot-foot,  she's  off  with  her  pack— 

A  bundle  red-stained  with  the  nind — 

And  ghost-swift  she  breasts  ^lalu-nka. 

Quest  follows  like  smoke — lost  is  her  companion ; 

P'ierce  the  wind  i)lucks  at  the  leaves, 
15         (irabs — by  mistake — her  burden,  tlie  man. 

Despairing,  she  falls  to  the  earth. 

And,  hugging  the  hillock  of  sand. 

Sobs  out  her  soul  on  the  beach  Mo-mo-iki. 

A  tale  this  wrung  from  my  heart, 
20         Not  told  by  the  tongue  of  man. 

Wrong!  yet  right,  was  I,  my  friend; 

My  love  after  all  was  for  you, 

While  I  lived  a  vagabond  life  there  and  here, 

Sowing  my  vagrom  tears  in  all  roads — 
25         Prompt  my  payment  of  debt  to  your  house — 

Yes,  truly,  I'm  wrong ! 

"  Mo'o-mo'o-iki.      A    land   :\t    Wafhia.    Kauai. 

^  Lua-ai-clc.      To  carrv   about  with   one  a  sorrow. 


XLI.— THE  WATER  OF  KANE 

If  one  were  asked  what,  to  the  English-speaking  mind,  consti- 
tutes the  most  representative  romantico-mystical  aspiration  that  has 
been  embodied  in  song  and  story,  doubtless  he  would  be  compelled 
to  answer  the  legend  and  myth  of  the  Holy  Grail.  To  the  Hawaiian 
mind  the  aspiration  and  conception  that  most  nearly  approximates 
to  this  is  that  embodied  in  the  words  placed  at  the  head  of  this  chap- 
ter, The  Water  of  Kane.  One  finds  suggestions  and  hints  of  this 
conception  in  many  passages  of  Hawaiian  song  and  story,  sometimes 
a  phosphorescent  flash,  answering  to  the  dip  of  the  poet's  blade, 
sometimes  crystallized  into  a  set  form;  but  nowhere  else  than  in  the 
following  mele  have  I  found  this  jewel  deliberately  wrought  into 
shape,  faceted,  and  fixed  in  a  distinct  form  of  speech. 

This  mele  comes  from  Kauai,  the  island  which  more  than  any 
other  of  the  Hawaiian  group  retains  a  tight  hold  on  the  mystical  and 
imaginative  features  that  mark  the  mythology  of  Polynesia ;  the 
island  also  which  less  than  any  other  of  the  group  was  dazzled  by 
the  glamour  of  royalty  and  enslaved  by  the  theory  of  the  divine  birth 
of  kings. 

He  Mele  no  Kane 

He  li-i,  he  ninan : 
E  ii-i  akii  ana  an  ia  oe, 
Aia  i-hea  ka  wai  a  Kane? 
Aia  i  ka  hikina  a  ka  La, 
5        Puka  i  Hae-hae;« 

Aia  i-laila  ka  Wai  a  Kane. 

E  u-i  akn  ana  an  ia  oe, 
Aia  i-hea  ka  Wai  a  Kane? 
Aia   i   Kau-lana-ka-la,& 
10        I  ka  pae  opua  i  ke  kai,c 
Ea  mai  ana  ma  Nihoa,'^ 

"  Hae-hae.  Heaven's  eastern  gate  ;  the  portal  in  the  solid  walls  that  supported  the  heav- 
enly dome,  through  which  the  sun  entered  in  the  morning. 

^  Kaii-lana-ka-la.  When  the  setting  sun,  perhaps  by  an  optical  illusion  drawn  out  into  a 
boatlike  form,  appeared  to  be  floating  on  the  surface  of  the  ocean,  the  Hawaiians  named 
the  phenomenon  Kau-lana-ka-la — the  floating  of  the  sun.  Their  fondness  for  personiflca- 
tion  showed  itself  in  the  flnal  conversion  of  this  phrase  into  something  like  a  proper  name, 
which  they  applied  to  the  locality  of  the  phenomenon. 

"  Pae  opua  i  ke  kai.  Another  instance  of  name-giving,  applied  to  the  bright  clouds  that 
seem  to  rest  on  the  horizon,  especially  to  the  west. 

<^Xihoa  (Bird  island).  This  small  rock  to  the  northwest  of  Kauai,  though  far  below  the 
horizon,  is  here  spoken  of  as  if  it  were  in  sight. 

25352— Bull.   38—09 17  257 


256  BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

15        Koe  a  kau  me  ka  manao  iloko. 

Ke  apo  wale  la  no  i  ke  one, 

I  ka  uwe  wale  iho  no  1  Mo'o-mo'o-iki,<^  e! 

He  ike  moolelo  na  ke  kuhi  wale, 

Aole  ma  ka  waha  mai  o  kanaka. 
20         Hewa,  pono  ai  la  hoi  au,  e  ka  hoa ; 

Nou  ka  ke  aloha, 

I  lua-ai-ele  ^  ai  i  o,  i  auei; 

Ua  kuewa  i  ke  ala  me  ka  wai-maka. 

Aohe  wa,  ua  uku  i  kon  hale — 
25        Hewa  au,  e! 

[Translation] 
Song 

The  wind-beaten  stream  of  Wailua 

Is  tossed  into  waves  from  the  sea  ; 

Salt-drenched  are  the  leaves  of  the  hau, 

The  stalks  of  the  taro  all  rotted — 
5        'Twas  the  crop  of  Maka'u-kiu. 

The  flowers  of  kukui  are  a  telltale, 

A  messenger  sped  by  the  gale 

To  warn  the  canoe  to  depart. 

Pray  you  depart ! 
10         Hot-foot,  she's  ofif  with  her  pack — 

A  bundle  red-stained  with  the  mud — 

And  ghost-swift  she  breasts  Malu-aka. 

Quest  follows  like  smoke — lost  is  her  companion ; 

Fierce  the  wind  plucks  at  the  leaves, 
15         (Jrabs — by  mistake — her  burden,  the  man. 

Despairing,  she  falls  to  the  earth. 

And,  hugging  the  hillock  of  sand, 

Sobs  out  her  soul  on  the  beach  Mo-mo-iki. 

A  tale  this  wrung  from  my  heart, 
20        Not  told  by  the  tongue  of  man. 

Wrong!  yet  right,  was  I.  my  friend; 

My  love  after  all  was  for  you, 

While  I  lived  a  vagabond  life  there  and  here. 

Sowing  my  vagrom  tears  in  all  roads — 
25         Prompt  my  payment  of  debt  to  your  house — 

Yes,  truly,  I'm  wrong ! 

"  Mo'o-mo'o-iki.     A   land   at   Wailua.   Kauai. 

'>  Luu-ai-clc.     To  carry  about  witli  one  a  sorrow. 


XLI.— THE  WATER  OF  KANE 

If  one  were  asked  what,  to  the  English-speaking  mind,  consti- 
tutes the  most  representative  romantico-mystical  aspiration  that  has 
been  embodied  in  song  and  story,  doubtless  he  would  be  compelled 
to  answer  the  legend  and  myth  of  the  Holy  Grail.  To  the  Hawaiian 
mind  the  aspiration  and  conception  that  most  nearly  approximates 
to  this  is  that  embodied  in  the  words  placed  at  the  head  of  this  chap- 
ter, The  Water  of  Kane.  One  finds  suggestions  and  hints  of  this 
conception  in  many  passages  of  Hawaiian  song  and  story,  sometimes 
a  phosphorescent  flash,  answering  to  the  dip  of  the  poet's  blade, 
sometimes  crystallized  into  a  set  form;  but  nowhere  else  than  in  the 
following  mele  have  I  found  this  jewel  deliberately  wrought  into 
shape,  faceted,  and  fixed  in  a  distinct  form  of  speech. 

This  mele  comes  from  Kauai,  the  island  which  more  than  any 
other  of  the  Hawaiian  group  retains  a  tight  hold  on  the  mystical  and 
imaginative  features  that  mark  the  mythology  of  Polynesia ;  the 
island  also  which  less  than  any  other  of  the  group  was  dazzled  by 
the  glamour  of  royalty  and  enslaved  by  the  theory  of  the  divine  birth 
of  kings. 

He  Mele  no  Kane 

He  ii-i,  he  iiinau : 
E  u-i  akii  ana  an  ia  oe, 
Aia  i-hea  ka  wai  a  Kane? 
Aia  i  ka  hikina  a  ka  La, 
5        Puka  i  Hae-hae;« 

Aia  i-laila  ka  Wai  a  Kane. 

E  u-i  aku  ana  au  ia  oe, 
Aia  i-hea  ka  Wai  a  Kane? 
Aia   i   Kau-lana-ka-la,& 
10        I  ka  pae  opua  i  ke  kai,^' 
Ea  mai  ana  ma  Nihoa,'' 

«  Hae-hae.  Heaven's  eastern  gate  ;  the  portal  in  the  solid  walls  that  supported  the  heav- 
enly dome,  through  which  the  sun  entered  in  the  morning. 

*  Kau-lann-ka-la.  When  the  setting  sun.  perhaps  by  an  optical  illusion  drawn  out  into  a 
boatlike  form,  appeared  to  be  floating  on  the  surface  of  the  ocean,  the  Hawaiians  named 
the  phenomenon  Kau-Iana-kn-la — the  floating  of  the  sun.  Their  fondness  for  personiflca- 
tion  showed  itself  in  the  final  conversion  of  this  phrase  into  something  like  a  proper  name, 
which  they  applied  to  the  locality  of  the  phenomenon. 

"  Pae  opua  i  Tee  kai.  Another  instance  of  name-giving,  applied  to  the  bright  clouds  that 
seem  to  rest  on  the  horizon,  especially  to  the  west. 

<^  Xihoa  (Bird  island).  This  small  rock  to  the  northwest  of  Kauai,  though  far  below  the 
horizon,  is  here  spoken  of  as  if  it  were  in  sight. 

25352— Bull.   38—09 IT  257 


258  BUREAU    OF    AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

Ma  ka  mole  mai  o  Lehua ; 
Aia  i-laila  ka  Wai  a  Kane. 

E  (i-i  akii  ana  an  ia  oe, 
15        Aia  i-hea  ka  Wai  a  Kane? 

Aia  i  ke  kua-hiwi,  i  ke  kna-louo, 
I  ke  awawa,  i  ke  kalia-wai; 
Aia  i-laila  ka  Wai  a  Kane. 

E  ti-i  aku  ana  au  ia  oe, 
20        Aia  i-hea  ka  Wai  a  Kane? 

Aia   i-kai,   i   ka   moana, 

I  ke  Kua-lau,  i  ke-  anuenue, 

I  ka  punobn,"   i  ka  ua-koko,^ 

I  ka  alewa-lewa ; 
25        Aia  i-laila  ka  Wai  a  Kane. 

,     E  ū-i  aku  ana  an  ia  oe, 
Aia  i-hea  ka  Wai  a  Kane? 
Aia  i-luna  ka  Wai  a  Kane, 
I  ke  ouli,  i  ke  ao  eleele, 
30        I  ke  ao  pano-pano, 

I  ke  ao  popolo-hua  mea  a  Kane  la,  el 
Aia  i-laila  ka  Wai  a  Kane. 

E  u-i  aku  ana  au  ia  oe, 
Aia  i-hea  ka  Wai  a  Kane? 
35        Aia  i-lalo,  i  ka  honua,  i  ka  Wai  hu, 
I  ka  wai  kau  a  Kane  me  Kanaloa— ^' 
He  wai-puna,  he  wai  e  inn, 
He  wai  e  mana,  he  wai  e  ola. 
E  ola  no,  e-a  ! 

[Translation] 
The  Water  of  Kane 

A  query,  a  question, 
I  put  to  you : 

Where  is  the  water  of  Kane? 
At  the  Eastern  Gate 
5        Where  the  Sun  comes  in  at  Plaehae; 
There  is  the  water  of  Kane. 

A  question   Ī  ask  of  you: 
Where  is  the  water  of  Kane? 
Out  there  with  the  floating  Suu, 

"  I'lmohu.  A  red  luminous  cloud,  or  a  halo,  regarded  as  an  omen  portending  some  sacred 
and  important  ovont. 

"  I'a-lioko.  Literally  bloody  rain,  a  term  applied  to  a  rainbow  when  lying  near  the 
ground,  or  to  a  freshet-stream  swollen  with  the  red  muddy  water  from  the  wash  of  the 
hllisidos.     These  were  Important  omens,  claimed  as  marking  the  birth  of  tabu  chiefs. 

•"  IIV//  hau  a  Kane  mc  Kanaloa.  Once  when  Kane  and  Kanaloa  were  journeying  together 
Kanaloa  complained  of  thirst.  Kane  thrust  his  staff  into  the  pnli  near  at  hand,  and  out 
flowpd  a  stream  of  pure  water  that  has  continued  to  the  present  day.  The  place  is  at 
Keanae,  Maui. 


EMEKSON]  UNWRITTEN    LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  259 

10        Where  cloud-forms  rest  on  Ocean's  breast. 
Uplifting  their  forms  at  Nihoa, 
This  side  the  base  of  Lehua ; 
There  is  the  water  of  Kane. 

One  question  I  put  to  you : 
35        Where  is  the  water  of  Kane? 

Yonder  on  mountain  peak, 

On  the  ridges  steep, 

In  the  valleys  deep. 

Where  the  rivers  sweep; 
20        There  is  the  water  of  Kane. 

This  question  I  ask  of  you : 
Where,  pray,  is  the  water  of  Kane? 
Yonder,  at  sea,  on  the  ocean, 
In  the  driving  rain, 
i:r>         In  the  heavenly  bow. 

In  the  piled-up  mist-wraith. 
In  the  blood-red  rainfall. 
In  the  ghost-pale  cloud-form; 
There  is  the  water  of  Kane. 

30        One  question  I  put  to  you : 

Where,  where  is  the  water  of  Kane? 

Up  on  high  is  the  water  of  Kane, 

In  the  heavenly  blue, 

In  the  black  piled  cloud, 
35         In  the  black-black  cloud, 

In  the  black-mottled  sacred  cloud  of  the  gods; 

There  is  the  water  of  Kane. 

One  question  I  ask  of  you : 

Where  flows  the  water  of  Kane? 
40        Deep  in  the  ground,  in  the  gushing  spring. 

In  the  ducts  of  Kane  and  Loa. 

A  well-spring  of  water,  to  quaff, 

A  water  of  magic  power — 

The  water  of  life! 
45        Life !  O  give  us  this  life ! 


XLI I.— GENERAL  REVIEW 

In  this  preliminary  excursion  into  the  wilderness  of  Hawaiian  lit- 
erature we  have  covered  but  a  small  part  of  the  field ;  we  have  reached 
no  definite  boundaries;  followed  no  stream  to  its  fountain  head; 
gained  no  high  point  of  vantage,  from  which  to  survey  the  whole. 
It  was  indeed  outside  the  purpose  of  this  book  to  make  a  delimita- 
tion of  the  whole  field  of  Hawaiian  literature  and  to  mark  out  its 
relations  to  the  formulated  thoughts  of  the  world. 

Certain  provisional  conclusions,  however,  are  clearly  indicated: 
that  this  unw^ritten  speech-literature  is  but  a  peninsula,  a  semide- 
tached, outlying  division  of  the  Polynesian,  Avith  which  it  has  much 
in  common,  the  whole  running  back  through  the  same  lines  of  an- 
cestry to  the  people  of  Asia.  There  still  lurk  in  the  subliminal  con- 
sciousness of  the  race,  as  it  were,  vague  memories  of  things  that  long 
ago  passed  from  sight  and  knowledge.  Such,  for  instance,  was  the 
mo'o;  a  word  that  to  the  Hawaiian  meant  a  nondescript  reptile,  which 
his  imagination  vaguely  pictured,  sometimes  as  a  dragonlike  monster 
belching  fire  like  a  chimera  of  mythology,  or  swimming  the  ocean 
like  a  sea-serpent,  or  multiplied  into  a  manifold  pestilential  swarm 
infesting  the  wilderness,  conceived  of  as  gifted  with  superhuman 
powers  and  always  as  the  malignant  foe  of  mankind,  Xow  the  only 
Hawaiian  representatives  of  the  reptilian  class  were  two  species  of 
harmless  lizards,  so  that  it  is  not  conceivable  that  the  Hawaiian  notion 
of  a  mo'o  was  derived  from  objects  present  in  his  island  home.  The 
word  mo'o  may  have  been  a  coinage  of  the  HaAvaiian  speech- 
center,  but  the  thing  it  stood  for  must  have  been  an  actual  existence, 
like  the  i)ython  and  cobra  of  India,  or  the  pterodactyl  of  a  past 
geologic  period.  May  we  not  think  of  it  as  an  ancestral  memory,  an 
impress,  of  Asiatic  sights  and  experiences? 

In  this  connection,  it  Avill  not,  perhaps,  lead  us  too  far  afield,  to 
remark  that  in  the  Hawaiian  speech  we  find  the  chisel-marks  of 
Hindu  and  of  Aryan  scoring  deep-graven.  For  instance,  the  Ha- 
waiian word  pull,  cliff  or  precipice,  is  the  very  word  that  Young- 
husband — following,  no  doubt,  the  native  speech  of  the  region,  the 
Pamirs — api)lies  to  the  mountain-walls  that  buttress  off  Tibet  and 
the  central  plateaus  of  Asia  from  northern  India.  Again  the  Ha- 
waiian word  mele^  which  we  have  used  so  often  in  these  chapters  as 
to  make  it  seem  almost  like  a  household  word,  corresponds  in  form, 
in  sound,  and  in  meaning  to  the  Greek  ^i\oi\  ra  f.d\}i,  lyric 
200 


EMERSOX]  UNWRITTEN    LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII  261 

poetry  (Liddell  and  Scott).  Again,  take  the  Hawaiian  word  i'a, 
fish — Maori,  ika;  Malay,  ikan;  Java,  iwa;  Bouton,  ikani  (Edward 
Tregear:  The  Maori-Polynesian  Comparative  Dictionary).  Do  not 
these  words  form  a  chain  that  links  the  Hawaiian  form  to  the  IxOv^ 
of  classic  Greece  ?  The  subject  is  fascinating,  but  it  would  soon  lead 
us  astray.     These  examples  must  suffice. 

If  Ave  can  not  give  a  full  account  of  the  tangled  woodland  of  Ha- 
waiian literature,  it  is  something  to  be  able  to  report  on  its  fruits 
and  the  manner  of  men  and  beasts  that  dwelt  therein.  Are  its  fruits 
good  for  food,  or  does  the  land  Ave  have  explored  bring  forth  only 
poisonous  reptiles  and  the  deadly  upas?  Is  it  a  land  in  Avhich  the 
very  principles  of  art  and  of  human  nature  are  turned  -upside  down  ? 
Its  language  the  babble  of  Bander-log? 

This  excursion  into  the  jungle  of  Hawaiian  literature  should  at 
least  impress  us  with  the  oneness  of  humanity;  that  its  roots  and 
springs  of  action,  and  ours,  draAV  their  sustenance  from  one  and  the 
same  primeval  mold ;  that,  hoAvever  far  back  one  may  traA^el,  he  will 
never  come  to  a  point  Avhere  he  can  say  this  is  "  common  or  unclean ;  " 
so  that  he  may  without  defilement  ''  kill  and  eat  "  of  what  the  jungle 
provides.  The  wonder  is  that  they  in  HaAvaii  of  the  centuries  past, 
shut  off  by  vast  spaces  of  sea  and  land  from  our  Avorld,  yet  accom- 
plished so  much. 

Test  the  ancient  Hawaiians  by  our  own  Aveights  and  measures. 
The  result  Avill  not  be  to  their  discredit.  In  practical  science,  in 
domestic  arts,  in  religion,  in  morals,  in  the  raw  material  of  literature, 
CA^en  in  the  finished  article — though  "unwritten — the  showing  Avould 
not  be  such  as  to  gi\^e  the  superior  race  cause  for  self-gratulation. 

Another  lesson — a  corollary  to  the  above — is  the  debt  of  recogni- 
tion Ave  owe  to  the  virtues  and  essential  qualities  of  untutored  human 
nature  itself.  Imagine  a  portion  of  our  oAvn  race  cut  oft'  from  the 
thought-currents  of  the  great  Avorld  and  stranded  on  the  island- 
specks  of  the  great  ocean,  as  the  Polynesians  have  been  for  a  period 
of  ceni:uries  that  Avould  count  back  to  the  times  of  William  the  Con- 
queror or  Charlemagne,  with  only  such  outfit  of  the  world's  goods 
as  might  survive  a  3,000-mile  A'oyage  in  frail  canoes,  reenforced  by 
such  flotsam  of  the  Avorld's  metallic  stores  as  the  tides  of  ocean  might 
chance  to  bring  them — and,  Avith  such  limited  capital  to  start  Avith 
in  life,  AA'hat,  should  Ave  judge,  Avould  liaA'e  been  the  outcome  of  the 
experiment  in  religion,  in  morals,  in  art,  in  mechanics,  in  ciAnlization, 
or  in  the  production  of  materials  for  literature,  as  compared  with 
Avhat  the  Avhite  man  found  in  HaAvaii  at  its  discovery  in  the  last 
quarter  of  the  eighteenth  century? 

It  Avere  well  to  come  to  the  study  of  primitiA^e  and  savage  people, 
of  nature-folk,  AAith  a  mind  purged  of  the  thanks-to-the-goodness- 
and-the-grace  spirit. 


262  BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY  [bull.  38 

It  will  not  do  for  us  to  brush  aside  contemptuously  the  notions 
held  by  the  Hawaiians  in  religion,  cosmogony,  and  mythology  as 
mere  heathen  superstitions.  If  they  were  heathen,  there  was  noth- 
ing else  for  them  to  be.  But  even  the  heathen  can  claim  the  right 
to  be  judged  by  their  deeds,  not  by  their  creeds.  Measured  by  this 
standard,  the  average  heathen  would  not  make  a  bad  showing  in 
comparison  with  the  average  denizen  of  Christian  lands.  As  to 
beliefs,  how  much  more  defensible  were  the  superstitions  of  our  own 
race  two  or  three  centuries  ago,  or  of  to-day,  than  those  of  the  Ha- 
waiians? How  much  less  absurd  and  illogical  were  our  notions  of 
cosmogony,  of  natural  history;  how  much  less  beneficent,  humane, 
lovable  the  theology  of  the  pagan  Hawaiians  than  of  our  Christian 
ancestors  a  few  centuries  ago  if  looked  at  from  an  ethical  or  practical 
point  of  view.  At  the  worst,  the  Hawaiian  sacrificed  the  enemy  he 
took  in  battle  on  the  altar  of  his  gods;  the  Christian  put  to  death 
with  exquisite  torture  those  who  disagreed  with  him  in  points  of  doc- 
trine. And  when  it  comes  to  morals,  have  not  the  heathen  time  and 
again  demonstrated  their  ability  to  give  lessons  in  self-restraint  to 
their  Christian  invaders? 

It  is  a  matter  of  no  small  importance  in  the  rating  of  a  people  to 
take  account  of  their  disposition  toward  nature.  If  there  has  been 
a  failure  to  appreciate  truly  the  mental  attitude  of  the  "  savage," 
and  especially  of  the  Polynesian  savage,  the  Hawaiian,  toward  the 
book  of  truth  that  was  open  to  him  in  nature,  it  is  always  in  order 
to  correct  it.  That  such  a  mistake  has  been  made  needs  no  further 
proof  than  the  perusal  of  the  following  passage  in  a  book  entitled 
"  History  of  the  Sandwich  Islands :  " 

To  the  heathen  the  book  of  nature  is  a  sealed  book.  Where  the  word  of  God 
is  not,  the  works  of  God  fail  either  to  excite  admiration  or  to  impart  instruc- 
tion. The  Sandwich  Islands  present  some  of  the  snblimest  scenery  on  earth, 
but  to  an  ignorant  native — to  the  great  mass  of  the  people  in  entire  heathen- 
ism— it  has  no  meaning.  As  one  crested  billow  after  another  of  the  heaving 
ocean  rolls  in  and  dashes  upon  the  unyielding  rocks  of  an  iron-bound  coast, 
which  seems  to  stiy,  "  Hitherto  shalt  thou  come  and  no  farther,"  the  low-minded 
heathen  is  merely  thinking  of  the  shellfish  on  the  shore.  As  he  looks  up  to 
the  everlasting  mountains,  girt  with  clouds  and  capped  with  snow,  he  betrays 
no  emotion.  As  he  climbs  a  towering  cliff,  looks  down  a  yawning  precipice, 
or  abroad  upon  a  forest  of  deep  ravines,  immense  rocks,  and  spiral  mountains 
thrown  together  in  the  utmost  wildness  and  confusion  by  the  might  of  God's 
volcanoes,  he  is  only  thinking  of  some  roots  in  the  wilderness  that  may  be 
good  for  food. 

There  is  hardly  a  poem  in  this  volume  that  does  not  show  the  utter 
falsit}^  of  this  view.  The  writer  of  the  words  quoted  above,  now  in 
his  grave  for  more  than  sixty  years,  was  a  man  for  whose  purity  and 
moral  character  one  must  entertain  the  highest  esteem.  He  enjoyed 
the  very  best  opportunity  to  study  the  minds  of  the  '*  heathen  "  about 
him,  to  discern  their  thoughts,  to  learn  at  first  hand  their  emotions 


EMERSON]  UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE   OF   HAWAII  263 

toward  the  naturB.l  Avorld,  whether  of  admiration,  awe,  reverence, 
or  whether  their  attitude  was  that  of  blank  indifference  and  absorp- 
tion in  selfish  things.  But  he  utterly  failed  to  penetrate  the  mystery, 
the  ''  truth  and  poetry,"  of  the  Hawaiian  mind  and  heart.  AVas  it 
because  he  was  tied  to  a  false  theology  and  a  false  theory  of  human 
nature?  AVe  are  not  called  upon  to  answer  this  question.  Let  others 
say  what  was  wrong  in  his  standpoint.  The  object  of  this  book  is  not 
controversial;  but  when  a  palpable  injustice  has  been  done,  and  is 
persisted  in  by  people  of  the  jDurest  motives,  as  to  the  thoughts,  emo- 
tions, and  mental  operations  of  the  '*  savage,"  and  as  to  the  finer 
workings  within  that  constitute  the  furniture  and  sanctuary  of  heart 
and  soul,  it  is  imperative  to  correct  so  grave  a  mistake ;  and  we  may 
be  sure  that  he  whose  words  have  just  been  quoted,  were  he  living  to- 
day, would  acknowledge  his  error. 

Though  it  is  not  the  purpose  of  these  pages  to  set  forth  in  order 
a  treatise  on  the  human  nature  of  the  "  savage,"  or  to  make  unneeded 
apolog;)^  for  the  primitive  and  uncultured  races  of  mankind  in  general, 
or  for  the  Hawaiian  in  particular,  yet  it  is  no  small  satisfaction  to 
be  able  to  set  in  array  evidence  from  the  life  and  thoughts  of  the 
savages  themselves  that  shall  at  least  have  a  modifying  influence 
upon  our  views  on  these  points. 

The  poetry  of  ancient  Hawaii  evinces  a  deep  and  genuine  love  of 
nature,  and  a  minute,  affectionate,  and  untiring  observation  of  her 
moods,  which  it  would  be  hard  to  find  surpassed  in  any  literature. 
Her  poets  never  tired  of  depicting  nature;  sometimes,  indeed,  their 
art  seems  heaven-born.  The  mystery,  beauty,  and  magnificence  of  the 
island  world  appealed  profoundly  to  their  souls ;  in  them  the  ancient 
Hawaiian  found  the  image  of  man  the  embodiment  of  Deity;  and 
their  myriad  moods  and  phases  were  for  him  an  inexhaustible  spring 
of  joy,  refreshment,  and  delight. 


GLOSSARY 

The  study  of  Hawaiian  pronunciation  is  mainly  a  study  of  vowel 
sounds  and  of  accent.  Each  written  vowel  represents  at  least  two 
related  sounds. 

A  {ah)  has  the  Italian  sound  found  in  father,  as  in  h«-le  or  in 
L<2-ka ;  also  a  short  sound  like  that  of  a  in  liable,  as  in  ke-a-ke-a, 
to  contradict,  or  in  a-ha,  an  assembly. 

E  {a)  has  the  sound  of  long  a  in  fate,  or  of  e  in  pr^y,  without  the 
i-glide  that  follows,  as  in  the  first  syllable  of  P^-le,  or  of  m^'-a,  a 
thing;  also  the  short  sound  of  e  in  net,  as  in  ^-ha,  hurt,  or  in  p^a,  a 
sail. 

I  {ee)  has  the  long  sound  of  i  in  p/que,  or  in  poKce,  as  in  ?-li,  skin, 
or  in  hz-la-hf-la,  shame ;  also  the  short  sound  of  i  in  hill,  as  in  b'-hi, 
border,  and  in  /-ki,  small. 

O  {oh)  has  the  long  sound  of  o  in  n6>te  or  in  (9ld,  without  the  u- 
glide,  as  in  IJ-a,  long,  or  as  in  the  first  syllable  of  LJ-no;  also  a 
short  sound,  which  approximates  to  that  sometimes  erroneously  given 
to  the  vowel  in  C(9at,  as  in  p<^-po,  rotten,  or  as  in  l(>-ko,  a  lake. 

U  {oo)  has  the  long  sound  of  u  in  ride,  as  in  hw-la,  to  dance ;  and 
a  short  sound  approximating  to  that  of  u  in  fidl,  as  in  mw-ku, 
cut  off. 

Every  Hawaiian  syllable  ends  in  a  vowel.  Xo  attempt  has  been 
made  to  indicate  these  differences  of  vowel  sound.  The  only  diacrit- 
ical marks  here  employed  are  the  acute  accent  for  stressed  syllables 
and  the  apostrophe  between  two  vowels  to  indicate  the  glottic  closure 
or  interruption  of  sound  (improperly  sometimes  called  a  guttural) 
that  prevents  the  two  from  coalescing. 

In  the  seven  diphthongs  ae^  ai,  ao,  au^  ei,  ia,  and  ua  a  delicate  ear 
will  not  fail  to  detect  a  coalescence  of  at  least  two  sounds,  thus  prov- 
ing them  not  to  be  mere  digraphs. 

In  animated  description  or  pathetic  narrative,  or  in  the  effort  to 
convey  the  idea  of  length,  or  height,  or  depth,  or  immensity,  the  Ha- 
waiian had  a  way  of  prolonging  the  vowel  sounds  of  a  word,  as  if 
by  so  doing  he  could  intimate  the  amplitude  of  his  thought. 

The  letter  w  {way)  represents  two  sounds,  corresponding  to  our 
w  and  our  v.  At  the  beginning  of  a  Word  it  has  the  sound  of  w  {way) , 
retaining  this  even  when  the  word  has  become  compounded.  This 
is  illustrated  in  TFai-a-lu-a  (geographical  name),  and  ?6'a-ha 
mouth.     In   the  middle  of  a  word,  or  after  the   first   syllable,  it 

265 


266 


BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY 


fRiLi..  r^s 


almost  always  has  the  sound  of  v  (cay),  as  in  he-u'a  (wrong),  and 
in  E-16'a  (geographical  name).  In  hā-i6'a-u'a  (awkward),  the 
compound  word  ha-u'ai  (Avater-pipe),  and  several  others  the  w  takes 
the  H'ffi/  sound. 

The  great  majority  of  Hawaiian  words  are  accented  on  the  penult, 
and  in  simple  words  of  four  or  more  syllables  there  is,  as  a  rule,  an 
accent  on  the  fourth  and  on  the  sixth  syllables,  counting  back  from 
the  final  syllable,  as  in  la-na-ki-la  (victorious)  and  as  in  ho-o-ko-lo- 
ko-lo  (to  try  at  law). 


Aha  (ā-ha) — a  braided  cord  of  sinet; 
an  assembly ;  a  prayer  or  religious 
service   (note  a,  p.  20). 

Ahaaina   (ā-lia-āi-na) — a  feast. 

Ai  (ai,  as  in  aisle) — vegetable  food;  to 
eat ;  an  event  in  a  game  or  contest 
(p.  93). 

Ai-ā-īo  (to  eat  in  the  presence  of)  — 
the  persons  privileged  to  eat  at  an 
alii's  table. 

Aiha'a  (ai-ha'a) — a  strained,  bom- 
bastic, guttural  tone  of  voice  in  re- 
citing a  mele,  in  contrast  to  the  style 
termed  ho'i-Jionua  (pp.  80,  00). 

Ailolo  (ai-16-lo— to  eat  brains) — a 
critical,  ceremonial  sacrifice,  the  con- 
ditions of  which  must  be  mot  before 
a  novitiate  can  be  ifdmitted  as  a 
practitioner  of  the  hula  as  well  as  of 
other  skilled  professions  (pp.  15, 
31,  34). 

Aina  (aī-na) — the  land;  a  meal  (of 
food). 

Alii  (a-li'i) — a  chief;  a  person  of 
rank ;  a  king. 

Aloha  (a-16-ha) — good  will;  affection; 
love;  a  word  of  salutation. 

Ami  (a -mi) — to  bend;  a  bodily  mo- 
tion used  in  the  hula  (note,  p.  202). 

Aniicnuc  (a-nū-e-nū-e) — a  rainbow;  a 
waterfall  in  Hilo   (p.  61,  verse  13). 

Ao  (a-o) — dawn;  daytime;  the  world; 
a  cloud  (p.  196,  verse  7). 

Aumakua  (aū-ma-kū-a) — an  ancestral 
god  (p.  23). 

Awd  (a-va) — bitter;  sour;  the  sopo- 
rific root  of  the  IMper  methysticum 
(p.  130). 

Eknhn  (e-kfiha) — the  nidus  fern,  by 
the  Ilawjiiians  sometimes  called  ka 
hoc  a  Maivi,  Mawi's  paddle,  from 
the  shape  of  its  leaves  (p.  19). 


Haena  (Ha-e-na) — a  village  on  the 
windward  coast  of  Kauai,  the  home 
of  Lohiau,  for  whom  Pele  conceived 
a  passion  in  her  dreams  (p.  186). 

Hala  (ha-la) — a  sin;  a  variety  of  the 
"screw-pine"  (Pandanus  odoratissi- 
mus,  Hillebrand).  Its  drupe  was 
used  in  decoration,  its  leaves  were 
braided  into  mats,  hats,  bags,  etc. 

Ilalapcpe  (ha-la-pe-pe) — a  tree  used 
in  decorating  the  kuahu  (Dracrena 
aurea,    Hillebrand)     (p.    24). 

Halau  (ha-lau — made  of  leaves) — a 
canoe-shed ;  a  hall  consecrated  to 
the  hula ;  a  sort  of  school  of  manual 
arts  or  the  art  of  combat  (p.  14). 

Hale  (ha-le) — a  house. 

Ha  n  a  i-kuah  a  ( ha-nai-ku-a-hu — altar- 
feeder) — the  dailj'  renewal  of  the 
offerings  laid  on  the  kuahu;  the 
officer  who  performed  this  work 
(p.  29). 

Hanohano  (hā-no-hā-no) — having  dig- 
nity and  wealth. 

Hail  (how) — a  tree  whose  light,  tough 
wood,  strong  fibrous  bark,  and  muci- 
laginous fiowers  have  many  uses 
(Hibiscus  tiliaceus). 

Haumca  (Hau-me-a) — a  mythological 
character,  the  same  as  Papa  (notec, 
p.  126). 

Hciau  (hei-a(i) — a  temple. 

Hiiaka  (Hi'i-a-ka) — the  youngest  sis- 
ter of  Pele  (p.  186). 

Hilo  (HMo) — to  twist  as  in  making 
string;  the  first  day  in  the  month 
when  the  new  moon  appears;  a  town 
and  district  in  Hawaii  (pp.  60,  61). 

Holoku  (ho-lo-kū) — a  loose  gown 
resembling  a  '*  Mother  Hubbard," 
much  worn  by  the  women  of  Hawaii. 


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UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE    OF    HAWAII 


267 


Hoonoa  (ho'o-uo-a) — to  remove  a 
tabu;  to  make  ceremonially  free 
(p.  126). 

Hooulu  (ho'o-u-lu)— to  cause  to 
grow;  to  inspire.  (Verse  3,  Pule 
Kuahu,  p.  20,  and  verse  1,  Pule 
Kuabu,  p.  21.) 

Hoovaa  (bo'o-pa'a) — tbe  members  of 
a  bula  company  who,  as  instrumen- 
talists, remained  stationary,  not 
moving  in  tbe  dance  (p.  28). 

Huikala  (bu-i-ka-la)— to  cleanse 
ceremonially;  to  pardon  (p.  15). 

Uula  (bu-la),  or  int.  hūlahāla — to 
dance,  to  make  sport,  to  tbe  accom- 
paniment of  music  and  song. 

ra  (i'a) — fisb;  a  general  term  for 
animal  food  or  wbatever  relish 
serves  for  tbe  time  in  its  place. 

leie  (i-e-i-e) — a  tall  woody  climber 
found  in  tbe  wild  woods,  mucb  used 
in  decoration  (Freycinetia  arnotti, 
p.  19). 

Ilamuka  (Ma-mu-ku) — a  constable. 

Ilima  (i-li-ma) — a  woody  sbrub  (Sida 
fallax,  Hillebrand)  wbose  cbrome- 
yellow  flowers  were  mucb  used  in 
making^wreatbs  (p.  56). 

Ilio  (i-li-o) — a  dog;  a  variety  of  bula 
(p.  223). 

Imu  (i-mu),  sometimes  umu  (ti-mu)  — 
a  native  oven,  made  by  lining  a  bole 
in  tbe  ground  and  arcbing  it  over 
witb   stones    ( verse  3,  Oli  Paū,  p.  51 ) . 

Inoa.  (i-no-a) — a  name.  (See  Mele 
inoa.) 

1 1)0   (i-po) — a  lover;  a  sweetbeart. 

Ipoipq  (i-po-i-po),  hoipo,  (bo-i-po), 
or  hoiiwipo  (bo-i-po-i-po) — to  make 
love;  to  play  tbe  lover;  sexual  dal- 
liance. 

Ipu  (i-pu) — a  general  name  for  tbe 
Cucurbitacese,  and  tbe  disbes  made 
from  tbem,  as  well  as  disbes  of 
coconut  sbell,  wood,  and  stone;  tbe 
drum-like  musical  instrument  made 
from  joining  two  calabashes  (p. 
73). 

Iwa     (i-wa,     pr.     i-va) — tbe    number 
nine;  a  large  black  sea-bird,  prob- 
ably a  gull  (p.  76). 
Kaliiki    (Ka-bi-ki) — Tahiti;    any    for- 
eign country  (p.  17). 


Kaliiko  (ka-bi-ko) — ancient;  to  ar- 
ray ;  to  adorn. 

Kahuna  (ka  -  hti  -  na) — a  priest;  a 
skilled  craftsman.  Every  sort  of 
kahuna  was  at  bottom  and  in  some 
regard  a  priest,  bis  special  depart- 
ment being  indicated  by  a  qualifying 
word,  as  kahuna  anaana,  sorcerer, 
kahuna  kalai  ica'a,  canoe-maker. 

Kai  (pr.  kye) — the  ocean;  salty. 
ī-kai,  to  tbe  ocean;  ma-kai,  at  the 
ocean. 

Kakaolelo  (ka  -  ka  -  o  -  le  -  lo)  —  one 
skilled  in  language;  a  rhetorician; 
a  councilor  (p.  98). 

Kamapua'a  (Ka-ma-pu-a'a)  — liter- 
ally tbe  bog-cbild ;  tbe  mythological 
swine-god,  wbose  story  is  connected 
with  that  of  Pele  (p.  231). 

Kanaka  (ka-nā-ka) — a  man;  a  com- 
moner as  opposed  to  tbe  alii. 
Kanaka  (ka-na-ka),  men  in  gen- 
eral; tbe  human  race.  (Notice  tbe 
different  accents.) 

Kanaenac  (ka-nae-nae) — a  propitia- 
tory sacrifice ;  an  intercession ;  a 
part  of  a  prayer  (pp.  16,  20). 

Kanaloa  (Ka-na-lo-a)  — one  of  the 
four  major  gods,  represented  as  of 
a  dark  complexion  and  of  a  malig- 
nant disposition  (p.  24). 

Kane  (Ka-ne) — male;  a  husband; 
one  of  the  four  major  gods,  repre- 
sented as  being  a  tall  blond  and  of 
a  benevolent  disposition  (p.  24). 

Kapa  (ka-pa) — tbe  paper-cloth  of  tbe 
Polynesians,  made  from  the  fibrous 
bark  of  many  plants  by  pounding 
with  wooden  beaters  while  kept 
moist. 

Kapo  (Ka-po) — a  goddess  and  patron 
of  the  hula,  sister  of  tbe  poison-god, 
Kalai-paboa,  and  said  to  be  mother 
of  Laka  (pp.  25,  45). 

Kapu  (ka-pu) — a  tabu;  a  religious 
prohibition   (pp.  30,  57). 

Kau  (Ka-u) — "the  milk;"  a  district 
on  the  island  of  Hawaii. 

Kawclc  (ka-we-le) — a  manner  of  can- 
tillating  in  a  distinct  and  natural 
tone  of  voice;  about  the  same  as 
koH'honua  (p.  58). 

Kihei  (ki-hei) — a  robe  of  kapa  worn 
after  the  fashion  of  the  Roman  toga. 


268 


BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY 


fRLLL.  38 


Kii  (kf'i)— to  fetch,  to  go  after  a 
thing;  an  image,  a  picture,  a  mario- 
nette: a  variety  of  the  huhi  (p.  91). 

KUauca  (Ki-lau-e-a) — the  great  ac- 
tive volcano  of  Hawaii. 

Kini  (Ivf-ui)— the  number  40,000;  a 
countless  number.  Kini  Akua,  a 
host  of  active,  often  mischievous, 
little  follv  in  human  form  that 
peopled  the  deei)  woods.  They  re- 
sembled our  elves  and  brownies,  and 
were  esteemed  as  having  godlilie 
powers  (p.  21,  note;  p.  24). 

Kilu  (ki-lu) — a  dish  made  by  cutting 
off  obliquely  the  top  of  a  coconut 
or  small  gourd,  which  was  used  as 
a  sort  of  top  in  the  game  and  dance 
called  kiliL     (Hula  kilu,  p.  235.) 

Ko — sugar-cane  ;  i)erformed,  accom- 
plished. With  the  causative  i)refix 
ho'o,  as  in  ho'oko  (ho'o-ko),  to 
accomplish,  to  carry  to  success 
(p.  30). 

KoH  (k6*i) — an  ax,  an  adz;  originally 
a  stone  implement.  (See  mele  be- 
ginning KoH  maka  nui,  p.  228.) 

Ko'i  honua  (ko'i  ho-nfi-a) — a  com- 
pound of  the  causative  ko,  i,  to  utter, 
and  honua,  the  earth; 'to  recite  or 
cantillate  in  a  quiet  distinct  tone,  in 
distinction  from  the  stilted  bom- 
bastic manner  termed  ai-ha'a  (p.  58). 

Kokua-kumu  (ko-kū-a-kū-mu)  —  the 
assistant  or  deputy  who  took  charge 
of  the  halau  in  the  absence  of  the 
kuniu-hula    (p.  29). 

Kolea  (ko-lē-a) — the  plover;  the  name 
of  a  hula   (p.  219). 

Koīohe  (ko-lO-he) — mischievous;  rest- 
less:   lawless    (note   d,   p.   194). 

Kona  (Kōna) — a  southerly*  wind  or 
storm ;  a  district  on  the  leeward  side 
of  many  of  the  islands. 

Kooluu  (Ko'o-lau)  — leaf-compeller  ; 
the  windward  side  of  an  island ;  the 
name  of  a  wind.  (.1  Koolau  wau, 
ike  i  ka  ua,  verse  1,  p.  59.) 

hu — to  stand;  to  rise  up;  to  fit;  a 
division  of  land;  one  of  the  four 
major  gods  who  had  many  functions, 
such  as  Ku-pului)ulu,  Ku-mokuhalii, 
Ku-l\aili-m()ku,  etc.  (Mele,  Ku  c, 
fiana  c!  p.  223.) 


Kuahu  (ku-a-hu)— an  altar;  a  rustic 
stand  constructed  in  the  halau  in 
honor  of  the  hula  gods  (p.  15). 

KuJiai-moana  (Ku  -  hai  -  mo  -  a  -  na)  — 
a   shark-god    (pp.  70.  77). 

KuH  (ku'i)— to  smite;  to  beat;  the 
name  of  a  hula    (p.  2.50). 

Kukui  (ku-ku-i) — a  tree  (Aleurites 
moluccana)  from  the  nuts  of  which 
were      made      torches;      a      torch. 

.  (Mahana  lua  na  kukui  a  Lanikaula, 
p.  130,  note  c. 

Kumu-hula  (ku-mu  hfila) — a  teacher 
and   leader   of   the  hula. 

Kitpcc  (ku-pe'e)  — a  bracelet;  an 
anklet     (Mele  Kupe'e,  p.  49.) 

Kupua  (ku-pū-a) — a  superhuman  be- 
ing;  a  wonder-worker:  a  wizard. 

Ku-ijulupulu  (Kū-pū-lu-pū-lū)  — Ku 
the  hairy;  one  of  the  forms  of  god 
Ku,  propitiated  by  canoe-makers 
and  hula   folk    (p.   24). 

Laa  (la 'a) — consecrated;  holy;  de- 
voted. 

Laa-mai-Kahiki — A  prince  w  h  o 
flourished  some  six  or  seven  cen- 
turies ago  and  voyaged  to  Kahiki 
and  back.  He  was  an  ardent  patron 
of  the  hula   (p.  103). 

Lama  (la-ma) — a  torch;  a  beautiful 
tree  (Maba  sandwicensis,  Hille- 
braud)  having  fine-grained  whitish 
wood  that  was  much  used  for  sacred 
purposes   (p.  23). 

Lanai  (la-nai) — a  shed  or  veranda; 
an  open  part  of  a  house  covered  only 
by  a  roof. 

Lanai  (La-ua'i) — the  small  island  ly- 
ing southwest  of  Maui. 

Lani  (la-ni) — the  sky;  the  heaven  or 
the  heavens:  a  prince  or  king; 
heaven-born    (pp.  81,  82). 

Lchua  (le-hu-a) — a  forest  tree  (Me- 
trosideros  polymorpha)  whose  beau- 
tiful scarlet  ^  or  salmon-colored 
flowers  were  much  used  in  decora- 
tion (rule  Hoo-noa,  p.  126). 

Lei  (lei:  both  vowels  are  sounded, 
the  I  slightly) — a  wreath  of  flowers, 
of  leaves,  feathers,  beads,  or  shells 
(p.   50). 

Liloa  (Li-lO-a) — an  ancient  king  of 
Hawaii,  the  father  of  Umi  (p.  131). 


EMERSON] 


UNWRITTEN   LITERATURE   OF   HAWAII 


269 


Lohiau      (Lo-lii-au)— the     priuce     of 
Haena,     with    whom    Pele    became 
enamored  in  her  dreams  (p.  186). 
Lolo  (16-10)— the  brain  (p.  34). 
Lono   (L6-no)— one  of  the  four  major 

gods  of  Hawaii  (p.  24). 
Luau    (lu-au) — greens  made  by  cook- 
ing  young   taro   leaves;  in   modern 
times  a  term  applied  to  a  Hawaiian 
feast. 
Mahelc   (ma-he-le)— to  divide;  a  divi- 
sion of  a  mele;  a  canto;  a  part  of  a 
song-service  (p.  58). 
Mahiole     (mā-hi-6-le) — a     helmet     or 
war-cap,   a   style   of  hair-cutting  in 
imitation  of  the  same  (p.  91). 
Mahuna    (ma-hu-na)— a    small    parti- 
cle; a  fine  scale;  a  variety  of  deli- 
cate kapa ;  the  desquamation  of  the 
skin    resulting    from   habitual    awa- 
drinkiug. 
Makalii  (Ma-ka-li*i)— small     eyes; 

small,  fine;  the  Pleiades  (p.  216  and 
note  on  p.  218). 
Malo    (ma-lo)— a    loin-cloth    worn    es- 
pecially by  men.     (Verses  3,  4,  5,  6 
of  mele  on  p.  36). 
Mano  (ma-no) — a  shark;  a  variety  of 

hula  (p.  221). 
Mauna     (mau-na) — a     mountain.       A 

word  possibly  of  Spanish  origin. 
Mele    (me-le) — a    poem;    a    song;    to 

chant;  to  sing. 
Mele    inoa — a    name-song;     a    eulogy 

(pp.  27,  37). 
Mele  kahea  (ka-hēa=to  call) — a  pass- 
word  by   which   one   gained   admis- 
sion to  the  halau  (pp.  38,  41). 
Moo    (mo'o) — a   reptile;   a  dragon;   a 

mythologic  monster   (p.  260). 
Muumiiu   (mu'u-mu'u) — an  under  gar- 
ment  worn   by   women ;    a    shift ;    a 
chemise;  a  person  maimed  of  hand 
or  foot;  the  name  of  a  hula  (p.  212). 
XanJa     (nau-lu) — name    of    the    sea- 
breeze  at  Waimea,   Kauai,     la   na- 
ulu=ii    heavy    local    rain    (pp.    110, 
112). 
Xoa   (no-a) — ceremonially  free;   unre- 
strained by  tabu  (p.  120). 
Xoni    (no-ni) — a    dye-plant    (Morinda 
citrifolia)    whose    fruit    was    some- 
times eaten. 


Xuuanii  (Xu'u-a-uu)  a  valley  back  of 
Honolulu  that  leads  to  the  "  Pali." 

Ohe  (o-he) — bamboo;  a  flute;  a  vari- 
ety of  the  hula  (pp.  135,  145). 

Ohelo  (o-he-lo) — an  edible  berry  that 
grows  at  high  altitudes;  to  reach 
out ;  to  stretch ;  a  variety  of  the 
hula  (p.  233). 

Ohia  (o-hi'a) — a  name  in  some  places 
applied  to  the  lehua  (q.  v.),  more 
generally  the  name  of  a  fruit  tree, 
the  "mountain  apple"  (Eugenia 
malaccensis). 

Olapa  (o-lā-pa) — those  members  of  a 
hula  company  who  moved  in  the 
dance,  as  distinguished  from  the 
h  00 pa  a,  q.  v.,  who  sat  and  cantil- 
lated  or  played  on  some  instrument 
(p.  28). 

Oli  (o-li) — a  song;  a  lyric;  to  sing  or 
chant  (p.  254). 

Olioli — Joyful. 

Olohe  (o-lo-he) — an  expert  in  the 
hula ;  one  who  has  passed  the  ailolo 
test  and  has  also  had  much  experi- 
ence (p.  32). 

Oo  (0-6) — a  spade;  an  agricultural 
implement,  patterned  after  the 
whale  spade  (p.  85)  ;  a  blackbird, 
one  of  those  that  furnished  the 
golden-yellow  feathers  for  the  ahu- 
ula,  or  feather  cloak. 

Pacpae  (pae-pae) — a  prop;  a  support; 
the  assistant  to  the  po'o-pua'a  (p. 
29). 

rahu  (pa-hu) — a  box;  a  drum;  a 
landmark;  to  thrust,  said  of  a  spear 
(pp.  103,  138). 

Pale  (pa-le) — a  division;  a  canto  of 
a  mele;  a  division  of  the  song  serv- 
ice in  a  hula  performance  (pp.  58, 
89). 

Pali  (pa-li) — a  precipice;  a  mountain 
wall  cut  up  with  steep  ravines. 
( Mele  on  pp.  51-53,  verses  4,  5,  8,  16, 
17,  27,  49.) 

Papa  (pj'i-pa) — a  board;  the  plane  of 
the  earth's  surface;  a  mythological 
character,  the  wife  of  Wakea. 

Pa-u  (pa-ii) — a  skirt;  a  garment  worn 
by  women  reaching  from  the  waist 
to  about  the  knees  (p.  50).  The 
dress  of  the  hula  performer  (p.  49), 
Oli  Pa-u  (p.  51). 


270 


BUREAU    OF   AMERICAN    ETHNOLOGY 


[BILL.  38 


Pclr  (Te-le)— the  goddess  of  the  vol- 
cjino  and  of  volcanoes  generally,  who 
held  court  at  the  crater  of  Kilauea, 
on  Hawaii ;  a  variety  of  the  hula 
(p.  18()). 

Pikai  (i)i-kai) — to  asperse  with  se-a- 
water  mixed,  perhaps,  with  turmeric, 
etc.,  as  in  ceremonial  cleansing  (p. 
31). 

Poo-puaa  (po*o-pu-a'a) — Boar's  head; 
the  one  selected  by  the  pupils  in  a 
school  of  the  hula  to  be  their  agent 
and  mouthpiece  (p.  29). 

Pua'a  (pu-a*a) — a  pig;  the  name  of  a 
hula  (p.  228). 

Puka  (pū-ka) — a  hole,  a  doorway,  to 
pass  through. 

Pule  (pū-le) — a  prayer;  an  incanta- 
tion; to  pray. 

Piilou  (pu-lo'u) — to  muffle;  to  cover 
the  head  and  face  (p.  31). 

Puniu  (pu-ni-u) — a  coconut  shell;  a 
small  drum  made  from  the  coconut 


I'uniu — Continued, 
shell  (p.  141)  :  a  derisive  epithet  for 
the  human  headpiece. 

Ti,  or  ki—a  plant  (Dracaena  termi- 
nalis)  that  has  large  smooth  green 
leaves  used  for  wrapping  food  and 
in  decoration.  Its  fleshy  root  be- 
comes syrupy  when  cooked  (p.  44). 

Uka  (u-ka) — landward  or  mountain- 
ward. 

Uku-lclc  (u-ku-le-le)— a  flea;  a  sort 
of  guitar  introduced  by  the  Portu- 
guese. 

Uniki  (u-ni-ki) — the  debut  or  the  first 
public  performance  of  a  hula  actor. 
(Verse  21  of  mele  on  p.  IT.) 

Waa  (wa'a) — a  canoe. 

Wahine  (wa-hi-ne) — a  female;  a 
woman ;  a  wife. 

\V(ii — water. 

Waialcale  (Wai-ā-Ie-ā-le)  — billowy 
water;  the  central  mountain  on  the 
island  of  Kauai    (p.  100). 


INDEX 


[XOTE. — All  Hawaiian  words,  as  such  (except  catch  words),  are  italicized.] 

Page 

Aala  kupukupu :  mele  Jcupe'e 49 

A  EULOGY  for  the  princess:  song  for  the  hula  ku'i  Molokai 209 

A  Hamakua  au:  mele  for  the  hula  haekeeke 122 

A  HiLO  au,  e:  mele  for  the  hula  pa' i-umauma 203 

AiA  I  Wai-pVo  Paka'alana:  old  mele  set  to  music  VIII •. 162 

Ai-HA 'a,  a  style  of  recitation 58 

AiLOLO  OFFERING,  at  graduation  from  the  school  of  the  halau 32 

eating  of 34 

inspection  of 33 

A  Kauai,  a  ke  olewa  iluna :  mele  for  the  hula  Pele 189 

A  KE  KUAHiwi:  a  kanaenae  to  Laka 16 

A  KoA  'e-ke A :  mele  for  the  hula  ala 'a-papa 67 

A  KooLAU  WAu:  mele  for  the  hula  ala'a-papa 59 

A  LALO  maua  o  Waipi'o:  mele  for  the  hula  iliili 120 

Alas,  alas,  maimed  are  my  hands!:  lament  of  Mana-mana-ia-kaluea 212 

Alas,  I  am  seized  by  the  shark:  song  for  the  hula  mano 222 

Alas,  there's  no  stay  to  the  smoke!:  song  for  the  hula  Pele 195 

Aloha  na  hale  o  makou:  mele  komo,  welcome  to  the  halau 39 

Aloha  wale  oe :  song  with  music  IX 164 

Altar-prayer — 

at  ailolo  inspection:  Laka  sits  in  her  shady  grove • 34 

at  ailolo  service:  O  goddess  Laka! 34 

in  prose  speech:  E  ola  ia'u,  i  ka  mnlihini 46 

Invoke  we  now  the  four  thousand 22 

Thou  art  Laka 42 

to  Kane  and  Kapo:  Now  Kane,  approach 45 

to  Laka:  Here  am  I,  O  Laka  from  the  mountains 20 

to  Laka :  This  my  wish 43 

to  Laka:  This  spoil  and  rape  of  the  wildwood 19 

Altar,  visible  abode  of  the  deity 15 

A  mackerel  sky,  time  for  foul  weather:  song  for  the  hula  ala'a-papa 70 

Ami,  not  a  motion  of  lewd  intent 210 

Amusements  in  Hawaii  communal 13 

Anklet  song  :  Fragrant  the  grasses 49 

AoLE  AU  E  HELE  kū  U'u-lu  o  Maudi  mele  for  the  hula  pa-ipu 79 

AoLE  E  MAO  ka  ohu :  m£le  for  the  hula  Pele 195 

AoLE  I  MANAo  lA :  mele  for  the  hula  uli-uli 108 

A  PiLi,  a  pili:  mele  for  the  hula  hoonand 244 

A  PIT  LIES  (far)  to  the  East :  song  for  the  hula  pa-ipu 86 

A  PLOVER  at  the  full  of  the  sea:  song  for  the  hula  kolea 220 

A  PUA  ka  wiliivili:  a  bit  of  folk-lore  (note) 221 

271 


272  INDEX 

Page 

A  Puna  au:  inele  for  the  hula  pahu 104 

A  SEARCH  for  a  sweetheart:  song  for  the  hula  ulili 247 

Aspersion  in  ceremonial  purification 15 

Assonance  by  word-repetition .• 227 

A  STORM  from  the  sea:  song  for  the  hula  pa-ipu 78 

At  IIilo  I  rendezvoused  with  the  lehua:  song  for  the  hula  pa'i-umauma 203 

Attitude  of  the  Hawaiian  toward — 

nature 262 

song 159 

the  gods 225 

At  Wailua  stands  the  main  house-post:  song  for  the  hula  Pele 192 

Auhea  v)ale  oe,  e  ka  Makani  Inu-wai?:  mele  for  the  hula  uli-uli ,110 

AuwE,  auwe,  mo'  ku'u  limaV.  lament  of  Mana-mana-ia-kaluea 212 

AuwE,  paw  au  i  ka  mano  nui,  e\:  mele  for  the  hula  mano 221 

A  uwEUWE  ke  ko'e  a  ke  kae:  mele  oli  in  the  game  of  kilu 240 

AwA  DEBAUCH  of  Kauc 131 

AwiLiwiLi  i  ka  hale  o  ka  lauwili,  e:  a  proverbial  saying  (note) 53 

Ax  OF  BROADEST  EDGE  I'm  hight:  song  for  the  hula  pua'a 230 

Bamboo  rattle,  the  puili 144 

Bedeck  now  the  board  for  the  feast:  song-prayer  for  the  hula  Pele 200 

Begotten  were  the  gods  of  graded  rank:  song  of  cosmology  (note) 196 

Behold  Kauna,  that  sprite  of  windy  Ka-ii:  song  for  the  hula  Pele 193 

Big  with  child  is  the  princess  Ku:  song  for  the  hula  pa-ipu 81 

Bit  of  folk-lore  :  A  pua  ka  wiliwili  (note) 221 

When  flowers  the  wiliwili  (note) 221 

Black  crabs  are  climbing:  song  for  the  hula  mu'umu'u 214 

Bloom  of  lehua  on  altar  piled:  prayer  to  remove  tabu  at  intermission 127 

Blow,  blow,  thou  wind  of  IIilo!:  old  sea  song  (note) 65 

Burst  of  smoke  from  the  pit:  song  for  the  hula  pa-ipu 89 

Cadence  in  music 140 

Calabash  hulas 102 

Call  to  the  man  to  come  in:  song  of  welcome  to  the  halau 41 

Castanets 147 

Ceremonial  cleansing  in  the  halau 30 

Cipher  speech 97 

Clothing  or  covering,  illustrated  by  gesture 178 

Coconut  drum,  puniu 141 

Come  now,  Manono:  song  for  the  hula  pa'i-umauma 204 

Come  up  to  the  wildwood,  come:  song  for  the  hula  ohc 136 

Comrade  mine  in  the  robe-stripping  gusts  of  Lalau:  t^ong  for  the  hula  kilu 241 

Conventional  gestures 180, 182 

Costume  of  the  hula  dancer 49 

Court  of  the  alii  the  recruiting  ground  for  hula  performe*rs 27 

Cults  of  the  hula  folk — were  there  two? 47 

Dance,  a  premeditated  affair  in  Hawaii 13 

David  Malo,  hulas  mentioned  by 107 

Death,  represented  by  gesture 178 

Debut  of  a  hula  performer 35 

Debut-song  of  a  hula  performer:  Ka  nalu  nui,  a  ku  ka  nalu  iiuii  Kona 35 

Decorations  of  the  kuahu—ihQ  choice  limited 19 

Dismissing  prayer  at  intermission:  Doomed  sacrifice  I 129 


INDEX  273 

Page 

Dispensation  granted  to  pupils  before  graduation  from  the  halau 33 

Divisions  of  mele  recitation  in  the  hula 58 

Doomed  sacrifice  I :  dismissing  prayer  at  intermission 129 

Dressing  song  of  hula  girls:  Ku  ha  punohu  ula 55 

Drum — 

description  of 140 

introduced  by  La'a-mai-Kahiki 141 

Drum  hula,  the 103 

E  ALA,  e  Kahiki-hu:  mele  for  the  hula  Pele 196 

E  HEA  i  Ice  kanaka  e  homo  maloko  {mele  komo) :  welcome  to  the  halau 41 

E  hoopono  ka  hele:  mele  apropos  of  Nihi-aumoe 94 

E  HOOULU  ana  i  Kini  o  ke  Akua:  altar-prayer 21 

EiA  KE  KUKO,  ka  IVa:  altar-prayer,  to  Laka 43 

Ei'  Au,  e  Laka  mai  uka:  altar-prayer 20 

E  iHO  ana  oluna:  oracular  utterance  of  Kapihc 99 

E  KAUKAU  i  hale  manu,  e\  mele  for  the  hula 'kVi 99 

E  Laka,  e  ! :  mele  kuahu  at  ailolo  service 34 

E  LE  'e  KAUKAU :  Tuele  for  the  hula  kVi 98 

Eleele  KAUKAU :  mele  for  the  hula  ki'i 97 

Ellis,  Rev.  William — 

his  description  of  the  ' '  hum  ka-raau  " • 116 

his  remarks  about  the  ^'hura  araapapa " 71 

Elocution  and  rhythmic  accent  in  Hawaiian  song 158 

E  Manono  la,  ea:  mele  for  the  hula  pa'i-umauma 204 

Engulfed  in  heaven's  abyss:  song  for  the  hula  kilu 243 

E  OE  mauna  %  ka  ohu:  mele  for  the  hula  Pele 194 

E  OLA  ia'u,  i  ka  malihini:  altar-prayer,  in  prose  speech 46 

E  pi'  i  ka  nahele:  mele  for  the  hula  ohe 135 

E  pi'i  ka  wai  ka  nahele:  mele  for  the  hula  niau-kani 133 

Epithalamium,  mele  for  the  hula  kVi:  0  Wanahili  ka  po  loa  ia  Manuka 100 

E  ulu,  e  ulu:  altar-prayer  to  the  Kini  Akua 46 

Ewa's  LAGOON  is  red  with  dirt:  song  for  the  hula  pa-ipu 84 

E  Wewehi,  ke,  ke\:  m£le  for  the  hula  ki'i 94 

Fable,  Hawaiian  love  of Ill 

Facial  expression 179 

Fame  trumpets  your  conquests  each  day:  song  for  the  hula  ku'i 253 

Feet  and  legs  in  gesture 181 

Fish-tree,  Maka-lei  (note) 17 

Flowers  acceptable  for  decoration 19 

Fluctuating  utterance  in  song,  i'i 158 

Folk-lore,  application  of  the  term 114 

Foreign  influence  on  Hawaiian  music 138, 163 

Fragrant  the  grasses  of  high  Kane-hoa:  anklet  song 49 

From  Kahiki  came  the  woman,  Pele:  song  for  the  hula  Pele 188 

From  mountain  retreat — 

song  for  the  hula  aWa-papa 64 

with  music  VII 157 

Game  of  kilu 235 

Game  of  na-u  (note) 118 

General  review 260 

25352— Bull.  38—09 18 


274  INDEX 

Gestuue —  Page 

illustrating  an  obstacle 177 

illustrating  movement 178 

influenced  by  convention 180 

inviting  to  come  in 179 

mimetic 178 

representing  a  plain 178 

representing  clothing  or  covering 178 

representing  death 178 

representing  union  or  similarity 178 

taught  by  the  kumu-hula 176 

with  feet  and  legs 181 

Gird  on  the  pa-u:  tiring  song 54 

Glossary 266 

Glowing  is  Kahiki,  oh!:  song  for  the  hula  pa-ipu 75 

God— 

of  health,  Mauli-ola  (note) 198 

of  mirage,  Lima-loa  (note) 79 

Gods,  attitude  of  the  Hawaiian  toward  the 225 

Gods  of  the  hula 23 

Gourd  drum,  ipu-hula 142 

Gourd-rattle,  uli-uli 144 

Graduation  from  the  halar. — 

ailolo  sacrament 32,  34 

ceremonies  of ... 31 

tabu-lifting  prayer:  Oh  wildwood  bouquet,  oh  Laka •. . .  32 

Haki  pu  0  ha  nahelehele:  altar-prayer  to  Laka 18 

Haku'i  ka  uahi  o  ha  lua:  mele  for  the  hula  pa-ipu 88 

Halau — 

a  school  for  the  hula 30 

ceremonies  of  graduation  from 31 

decorum  required  in 30 

description  of 14 

its  worship  contrasted  with  that  of  the  hciau 15 

I)assword8  to 38 

purification  of  its  site 14 

rules  of  conduct  while  it  is  abuilding 15 

worship  in 42 

Halau  Hanalei  i  ha  nini  a  ha  ua:  an  oli 155 

Hale-ma'uma'u  (note) 229 

Hall  for  the  hula.     See  Halau. 

Hanalei  is  a  hall  for  the  dance  in  the  pouring  rain:  a  song 155 

Hanau  he  apapa  nu'u :  song  of  cosmology  (note) 196 

Haunt  of  white  tropic  bird:  song  for  the  hula  ala'a-papa 67 

Hawaiian  harp,  the  uhehe 147 

Hawaiian  love  of  fable -- Ill 

Hawaiian  musical  instruments 138 

Hawaiian  music  displaced  by  foreign 138 

Hawaiian  slang 98 

Hawaiian  song — 

elocul  ion  and  rhythmic  accent 158 

c-hanul  eristics 170 


INDEX  275 

Hawauan  song — Continued.  Page 

melody ;  rhythm 171 

tone-intervals 158 

Hawahan  speech,  music  affected  by  peculiarities  of 139 

Hawaii  Ponoi  (national  hymn)  with  music  XIV 172 

Hawaii's  Very  Own:  translation  of  national  hymn 175 

He  ALA  Tcai  olohia:  mele  for  the  hula  Jcu'i  Molokai 207 

Heaven  magic  fetch  a  Hilo  pour:  song  for  the  hula  ala'a-papa 66 

He  inoa  no  la  Lani:  mele  for  the  hula  ku'i  Molokai 208 

He  inoa  no  Kamehameha :  song  set  to  music  VIII 162 

He  lua  i  ka  hikina:  mele  for  the  hula  pa-ipu 85 

Here  am  I,  0  Laka  from  the  mountains:  altar-prayer  to  Laka 20 

He  ua  la,  he  ua:  mele  for  the  hula  kolani 216 

He  u-i,  he  ninau:  mele  for  Kane 257 

HlIAKA 

her  bathing  place 190 

in  a  kilu  contest  with  Pele-ula 240 

See  Gods  of  the  hula. 

HiKi  MAI,  hiki  mat  ka  La,  el:  mele  for  the  hula  puili 114 

Hi'u-o-LANi,  Hi  ka  ua  o  Hilo:  mele  for  the  hula  ala'a-papa 65 

HoAEAE  explained 163 

Hoe  Puna  i  ka  iva'a  pololo  a  ka  ino:  mele  for  the  hula  ala'a-papa 70 

Hoinainau  mea  ipot  mele  for  the  hula  ala'a-papa 71 

Hole  Waimea  i  ka  ihe  a  ka  makani:  mele  for  the  hula  ala'a-papa 68 

Ho  !  MOUNTAIN  of  vapor  puffs:  song  for  the  hula  Pele 194 

Hoolehelehe-ki'i 91 

Hoopa'a,  a  division  of  the  hula  performers 28,  57 

HoopoNO  OE,  he  aina  kai  Waialua  i  ka  hau:  mele  for  hula  ala'a-papa 60 

How  pleased  is  the  girl  maimed  of  hand  and  foot:  song  of  Hiiaka 212 

How  pleasing,  when  borne  by  the  tide :  song  for  the  hula  ku'i 252 

Huahua'i:  song  with  music  X:  He  aloha  wau  ia  oe '. 166 

Hula — 

degeneration  of 14 

intermission  of 126 

support  and  organization 26 

Hula  ala'a-papa,  the — 

a  religious  service 11,  57 

company — organization  of 29 

dancer's  costume 49 

democratic  side  of 26 

remarks  on,  by  Rev.  W.  Ellis 71 

Hula  hoonana,  the 244 

Hula  iliili,  the 120 

Hula  ilio,  the 223 

Hula  kaekeeke,the 122 

Hula  ka-laau 116 

its  novel  performance  on  Kauai 118 

responsive  chanting  in 116 

Hula  kielei^  the 210 

Hula  ki'i,  the 91 

Hula  kilu,  the 235 

Hula  kolani,  the 216 

Hula  kolea,  the 219 


276  INDEX 


Hula  kolili,  the , 246 

Hula  ku'i  Molokai,  the 207 

Hula  ku'i,  the 250 

Hula  kuolo,  the 73 

Hula  man('),  the 221 

Hula  mu'umu'u,  the 212 

Hula  niau-kani,  the 132 

Hula  ohelo,  the 233 

Hula  ohe,  the 135 

Hula  o-niu,  the 248 

Hula  pa-hua,  the 183 

Hula  pahu,  the 103 

Hula  pa-ipu,  the 73 

Hula  pa'i-umauma,  the 202 

Hula  Palani,  the  (note) 202 

Hula  Pele ,  the , 186 

Hula  performance,  influenced  by  instrument  of  accompaniment 113 

Hula  performers — 

classes 28,  57 

d6but 35 

physique 57 

Hula  pua'a,  the 228 

Hula  puili,  the 113 

Hulas — 

calabash  hulas 102 

David  Male's  list  of 107 

first  hula 8 

gods  of 23 

of  varying  dignity  and  Tank 57 

See  also  Hula  and  names  of  various  hulas. 

Hula  songs — their  source 58 

Hula  ulili,  the 246 

Hula  Uli-uli,  the 107 

"HuRA  KA  RAAU,"  description  of,  by  Rev.  William  Ellis 116 

I  ALOHA  i  ke  ko  a  ka  wax:  mele  for  the  hula  ku  l 251 

I  AM  smitten  with  spear  of  Kane:  song  for  the  hula  pa-hua 184 

Idyl,  typical  Hawaiian 217 

I'l— 

a  fluctuating  utterance  in  song 158 

its  vowel  repetition 159 

I  kama'ama'a  la  i  ka  pualei:  mele  pule  for  the  hula  Pele 199 

Ike  ia  Kaukini:  mele  to  Kaukini  (note) 51 

Ike  ia  Kauna-wahine,  Makani  Ka-u:  mele  for  the  hula  Pele 193 

f  liili,  castanets 147 

III  omen,  words  of,  in  mele  inoa ."*r 37 

In  Puna  was  I :  song  for  the  hula  pahu 105 

Intermission  of  hula 126 

In  the  uplands,  the  darting  flame-bird  of  La'a:  password  to  the  halau 41 

Invitation  to  come  in,  by  gesture. 179 

Invoke  we  now  the  Four  Thousand:  altar-i)rayer 22 

In  Waifi'o  stands  Paka'alana:  name-song  of  Kamehameha 163 

Ipu  hula,  gourd  drum 58, 142 

treatment  of,  in  hula  pa-ipu  mmX  in  Imla  ahi'a-papa 73 


INDEX  277 

Page 

I  SPURN  THE  THOUGHT  with  disdaini  song  for  the  hula  uli-uli 109 

It  has  come,  it  has  come:  song  for  the  hula  puili 114 

It  was  in  Hamakua  :  song  for  the  hula  kaekeeke 123 

I  WILL  NOT  CHASE  the  mirage  of  Mana:  song  for  the  hula  pa-ipu 80 

Kaekeeke,  musical  bamboo  pipe 143 

Kahea  i  Tea  mele 58 

Kahiki-nui,  auwahi  Tea  makani:  mele  for  the  hula  kaekeeke 124 

Kahiki-nui,  land  of  wind-driven  smoke:  song  for  the  hula  kaekeeke 125 

Kahipa,  na  waiu  olewa:  mele  for  the  hula  pa'i-umauma 205 

Kahuli  aku,  kahuli  mai:  mele  apropos  of  the  tree-shell 121 

Kakua  pa-u,  ahu  na  kikepa:  tiring  song 51 

Kalakalaihi,  kaha  ka  La  ma  ke  kua  o  Lehua:  mele  for  the  hula  kilu 238 

Kalakaua,  a  great  name:  song  for  the  hula  ka-laau 117 

Kalalau,  pali  eku  i  ka  makani:  mele  for  the  hula  ki'i 101 

Ka-liu-wa'a  (note) 230 

Kama-pua'a,  his  relations  with — 

Kapo 25 

Pele 231 

Ka  Mawae :  song  and  music  XI 167 

Kamehameha  II,  song  composed  by 69 

Ka-moho-alii  (note) 229 

Kanaenae  to  Laka  :  A  ke  kuahiwi,  i  ke  kualono 16 

Kanaloa.     See  Gods  of  the  hula. 

Kanaloa  tints  heaven  with  a  blush:  song  for  the  hula  kilu 242 

Ka  nalu  nui,  a  ku  ka  nalu  mai  Kona:  name-song  to  Naihe 35 

Kane,  hiki  a'e,  he  maldma  ia  luna:  altar-prayer  to  Kane  and  Kapo 44 

Kane  is  drunken  with  awa:  song  for  interlude 130 

Kane's  awa  debauch. 131 

Kane.     See  Gods  of  the  hula. 
Kapo — 

parentage  and  relations  to  the  hula 47 

relations  with  Kama-pua'a 25 

See  Gods  of  the  hula. 

Kauai,  characteristics  of  its  hula 119 

Kauhua  Ku,  ka  Lani,  iloli  ka  moku:  mele  for  the  hula  pa-ipu 80 

Kau  ka  ha-e-a,  kau  o  ka  hana  wa  ele:  mele  for  the  hula  ala'a-papa 69 

Ka  uka  holo-kia  ahi-manu  o  La'a:  password  to  the  halau 41 

Kaulana  mai  nei  Pua  Lanakila:  mele  for  the  hula  ku'i 252 

Kaula  wears  the  ocean  as  a  wreath:  wreath-song 56 

Kaula  wreathes  her  brow  with  the  ocean:  song  of  Mana-mana-ia-kaluea 213 

Kau  lilua  i  ke  anu  Wai-aleale :  mele  for  the  hula  pahu 105 

Kauo  pu  ka  iwa  kala-pahe'e:  mele  for  the  hula  pa-ipu 76 

Ka  wai  opua-makani  o  Wailua:  an  oli 255 

Kawelo,  a  sorcerer  who  turned  shark  (note) 79 

Keaau  is  a  long  strip  of  wild  wood:  song  for  the  hula  ala'a-papa 62 

Keaau  shelters,  Waiakea  lies  in  the  calm:  song  for  the  hula  ala'a-papa 61 

Ke  amo  la  ke  ko'i  ke  Akua  la  i  uka:  mele  for  the  hula  Pele 190 

Keawe — 

a  name  of  many  personalities  (note) 74 

the  red  blush  of  dawn :  old  song  (note) 74 

Ke  lei  mai  la  o  Kaula  i  ke  kai,  e-e! — 

Tnele  of  Mana-mana-ia-kaluea 212 

wreath-song 56 


278  INDEX 

Page 

Ke  pohA  NEi;  u'ina  la:  inele  for  the  hula  o-nlii 248 

Ki'i-Ki'i 91 

Ki'i  NA  KA  ipo:  Tfiele  for  the  hula  ulili 246 

KiLELEI,  THE  HULA 210 

KiLU,  a  game  and  a  hula 235 

KiLU-coxTEST  of  Iliiaka  with  Pele-ula 240 

King,  Capt.  James,  on  the  music  and  dancing  of  the  Hawaiians 149 

King's  wash-tubs 116 

KiNi  Akua,  the 24, 46 

Ko'i-HONUA,  a  style  of  recitation 58,  89 

Ko'i  MAKA  NUi:  mele  oil  for  the  hula  pua'a ' 228 

KoLEA  KAi  piHA :  vule  for  the  hula  kolea 219 

KoNA  KAI  OPUA,  i  kala  i  ha  la'i:  mele  for  the  hula  ka-laau 117 

KuAHu-SERVicE,  not  a  rigid  liturgy 21 

KUAHU,  THE 15,  32 

Ku  AKU  LA  Keaau,  lele  ha  mahani  mawaho:  mele  for  the  hula  pa-ipu 77 

KuA  LOLOA  Keadu  i  ha  nahele:  mele  for  the  hula  ala'a-papa 62 

Ku,  A  MARIONETTE 91 

Ku  E,  NANA  E ! :  m£le  for  the  hula  ilio 223 

Ku  I  Wailua  ha  pou  hale :  mele  for  the  hula  Pele 191 

Ku  KA  MAKAiA  «  ha  huahūH  ^noe  ipo :  dismissing  prayer  at  intermission 129 

Ku  KA  PUNOHU  ula  i  ha  moana:  girl's  dressing  song 55 

KuKULU  o  Kahiki  (note) 17 

KuMU-HULA,  a  position  open  to  all 15 

Kumukahi,  myth  (note) 197 

KuNiHi  KA  MAUNA  i  ha  laH,  e:  mele  hahea,  password  to  the  halau 40 

Ku  OE  Ko'u  WAHi  ohelo  nei  la,  auive,  auue\:  mele  for  the  hula  ohelo 233 

Ku  PiLiKi'i  Ilanalei  lehua,  Ifl:  mele  for  the  hula  hielei 210 

Ku-PULUPULU.    See  Gods  of  the  hula. 

Ku.    See  Gods  of  the  hula. 

Ku'u  HOA  MAI  ha  mahani  huehu  hapa  o  Kalalau:  mele  for  the  hula  hilu 240 

La'a-mai-Kahiki — 

his  connection  with  the  hula  pahu 103 

introduces  the  drum,  or  pahu  hula 141 

Laau,  a  xylophone 144 

Laka — 

a  block  of  wood  her  special  symbol 20,  23 

adulatory  prayer  to 18 

a  friend  of  the  Pele  family 24 

aumakua  of  the  hula 23 

compared  with  the  gods  of  classic  Greece 24 

emanation  origin 48 

epithets  and  appellations  of 24 

invoked  as  god  of  wildwood  growths ^. 24 

special  god  of  the  hula 24 

versus  Kapo 47 

wreathing  her  emblem 34 

Laka  sits  in  her  shady  grove:  altar-j)ray(r 34 

Lament  of  Mana-mana-ia-kaluea — 

Alas,  alas,  maimed  are  my  hands  ! 212 

Autvc,  atiu'c,  77Jo'  ku^u  lima ! 212 

Lau  LKHiTA  punoni  ula  kc  kai  o  Kona:  mele  for  the  hula  pa-ipu 75 


INDEX  279 

Page 

Leaf  of  lehua  and  noni-tint,  the  Kona  sea:  song  for  the  hula  pa-ipu 76 

Le'a  wale  hoi  ha  wahine  lima-lima  ole,  ivawae  ole:  mele  of  Hiiaka 212 

Lehua  iluna  :  tabu-lifting  prayer  at  intermission 126 

Lele  Mahu'i-lani  a  luna:  a  tiring  song : . . .  56 

Let's  worship  now  the  bird-cage:  song  for  the  hula  H'i 99 

Lift  Mahu'i-lani  on  high :  tiring  song 56 

Like  no  a  like:  song  with  music  XII 168 

Lima-loa,  god  of  mirage  (note) 79 

Literalism  in  translation  versus  fidelity 88 

Liturgy  of  kuahu  not  rigid 21 

Li'uLi'u  ALOHA  ia^u  mele  kahea:  password  to  the  halau 39 

Long,  long  have  I  tarried  with  love:  password  to  the  halau 39 

LoNO,  cult  of 18 

See  Gods  of  the  hula. 

Look  forth,  god  Ku,  look  forth:  song  for  the  hula  ilio 225 

Look  now,  Waialua,  land  clothed  with  ocean-mist :  song  for  the  hula  ala'a-papa  60 

Look  to  your  ways  in  upland  Puna:  song  apropos  of  Nihi-aumoe 94 

Lo,  Pele's  the  god  of  my  choice:  song  prayer  for  the  hula  Pele 199 

Lo,  THE  rain,  the  rain:  song  for  the  hula  Icolani 217 

Love  fain  compels  to  greet  thee:  song,  "Cold  breast,"  "with  music  IX 165 

Love  is  at  play  in  the  grove :  song  for  the  hula  ala'a-papa 71 

Love  tousled  Waimea  with  shafts  of  the  wind:  song  for  the  hula  ala'a-papa.  69 

Lyric  or  oli  :  The  wind-beaten  stream  of  Wailua 256 

Lyric  utterance 254-256 

Mahele  or  pale ,  divisions  of  a  song 58 

Mai  kahiki  ka  wahine,  o  Pele:  mele  for  the  hula  Pele 187 

Maile-lau-li'i •. 91 

Maile-pakaha 91 

Maka-ku 91 

Maka-lei,  a  mythical  fish-tree  (note) 17 

Makali'i,  the  Pleiades  (note) 17 

Malua,  fetch  water  of  love:  song  for  the  hula  puili 115 

Malua,  kiH  wax  he  aloha :  mele  for  the  hula  puili 114 

Mao  wale  i  ka  lani:  mele  for  the  hula  kilu 243 

Marionette  hula 91 

Masks  not  used  in  the  halau. 179 

Mauli-ola,  god  of  health  (note) 198 

Meles — 

apropos  of — 

Kahuli,  the  tree-shell:  Kahuli  aku,  kahuli  mai 121 

Keawe :  0  Keawe  ula-i-ka-lani  (note) 74 

Nihi-aumoe :  E  hoopono  ka  hele  i  ka  uka  o  Puna 94 

at  debut  of  hula  performer:  Ka  nalu  nui,  a  ku  ka  nalu  mai  Kona 35 

for  interlude :   Ua  ona  o  Kane  i  ka  awa 130 

for  Kane :  He  u-i,  he  nindu 257 

for  the — 

hula  ala'a-papa — 

A  Koa'e-kea,  i  Pueo-hulu-nui 67 

A  Koolau  wau,  ikeikaua 59 

Hi^u-o-lani,  ki'i  ka  ua  o  Hilo 65 

Hoe  Puna  i  ka  wa^a  pololo 70 

Ho-ina-inau  mea  ipo  i  ka  nahele 71 


280  INDEX 

Meles — Continued, 
for  the — Continued. 

hula  ala'a-papa — Continued.  Page 

Hole  Waimea  i  ka  the  a  ka  makani 68 

Jloopono  oe,  he  aina  kai  Waialua  i  ka  hau 60 

Kau  ka  ha-c-a,  kau  o  ka  hana  wa  ele 69 

Kua  loloa  Keaau  i  ka  nahele 62 

Aohma  ka  llale-kai,  no  ka  ma'a-Jcyj 63 

Paku  Kca-au,  lulu  Wai-akea 60 

hida  hoonand:  A  pili,  a  pili 244 

hula  iliili:  A  lalo  mauxi  o  Waipi'o.  . 120 

hula  ilio:  Ku  e,  nana  e! 223 

hula  kaekeeke — 

A  Ilamakun  au 122 

Kahiki-nui,  auwahi  ka  makani 124 

hula  ka-laau — 

Kona  kai  opuxi  i  kala  %  ka  la'  i 117 

0  Kalakaua,  he  inoa 117 

hula  kielei  Ku  pilikiH  Ilanalei-lchua,  Ui 210 

hula  kVi — 

E  kaukau  i  hale  manu,  el 99 

E  le'e  kaukau 98 

Eleele  kaukau 97 

E  Wewehi,  ke,  ke! 94 

Kalalau,  pali  eku  i  ka  makani 101 

Pikdka  e,  ka  luna  ke,  ke! 96 

hula  kilu — 

Kdlakdlaihi,  kaha  ka  La  ma  ke  kua  o  Lehua 238 

■Ku'u  hoa  mai  ka  makani  kuehu-kapa  o  Kalalau 240 

Mao  wale  i  ka  Ihni 243 

Pua  ehu  kamalena  ka  uka  o  Kapa'a 237 

Ula  Kala^e-loa  i  ka  lepo  a  ka  makani 239 

Ula  ka  lani  ia  Kanaloa 241 

hula  kolani:  He  ua  la,  he  ua 216 

hula  kolea:  Kolea  kai  piha 219 

hula  ku'i — 

/  aloha  i  ke  ko  a  ka  wai 251 

Kaulana  mai  net  Pua  Lanakila 252 

hula  ku'i  Molokai — 

He  ala  kai  olohia 207 

He  inoa  no  ka  Lani 208 

hula  mano:  Auuef  pau  au  i  ka  man 6  nui,  e! 221 

hula  mu'umuu:  PVi  ana  a-ama 213 

hula  niau-kani:  E  pVi  ka  wai  ka  nahele 133 

hula  ohe:  E  pV  i  ka  nahele 135 

hula  ohelo:  Ku  oe  ko^u  wahi  ohclo  nei  la,  auue,  auur! 233 

hula  o-niu:  Ke  pohd  nei  ,u'ina  la! ." 248 

hula  pahu — 

A  Puna  au,  i  KukVi  au,  i  Ha'eha'e 104 

Kau  lilua  i  ke  anu  Wai-aleale 105 

0  Hiln  oe,  muliwai  a  ka  ua  i  ka  lani 104 

hula  pa-hua:  Pa  au  i  ka  ihe  a  Kane 183 


INDEX  281 

Meles — Continued . 
for  the — Continued. 

hula  pa-ipu —  Page 

Aole  au  e  hele  ha  Wu-la  o  Mand 79 

Haku'i  ka  uahi  o  ka  lua 88 

He  lua  i  ka  hikina 85 

Kauhua  Ku,  ka  Lani,  iloli  ka  moku 80 

Kauo  pu  ka  iwa  kala-pahe'e 76 

Ku  aku  la  Kea-au,  lele  ka  makani  mawaho 77 

Lau  lehua  punoni  ula  ke  kai  o  Kona 75 

0  Ewa,  aina  kai  ula  i  ka  lepo 84 

Ooe  no  paha  ia,  e  ka  lau  o  ke  aloha 82 

Wela  Kahiki,  e! 73 

hula  pa^i-umamna — 

A  Hilo  au,  e,  hoolulu  kn  Jehu  / 203 

E  Manono  la,  ea 204 

Kahipa,  na  xoaiu  oleirn 205 

hula  Pele — 

A  Kauai,  a  ke  olewa  iluna 189 

Aole  e  mao  ka  ohu 195 

E  ala,  e  Kahiki-ku 196 

E  oe  mauna  %  ka  ohu 194 

Ikama'ama'a  la  i  ka  pua-lei 199 

Ike  ia  Kaund-wahine,  Makani  Ka-u 193 

Ke  amo  la  ke  Akua  la  i-uka 190 

Ku  i  Wailua  ka  pou  hale 191 

Mai  Kahiki  ka  Wahine,  o  Pele 187 

Nou  paha  e,  ka  inoa 200 

0  Pele  la  ko'u  akua 198 

hula  puili — 

Hiki  mai,  hiki  mai  ka  La,  e! 114 

Malua,  ki'i  wai  ke  aloha 114 

hula  ulili:  Ki'i  na  ka  ipo 246 

hula  uli-uli — • 

Aole  i  mana'o  ia 108 

Auhea  wale  oe,  e  ka  Makani  Lui-vai? 110 

inoa — 

composition  and  criticism  of 27 

must  contain  no  words  of  ill  omen 37 

their  authors  called  "  the  king 's  wash-tubs  " 116 

to  Naihe :  Ka  nalu  nui,  a  ku  ka  nalu  mai  Kona 35 

in  the  hula,  starting  of 58 

kahea,  password  to  the  halau — 

Ka  uka  holo-kia  ahi-manu  o  La'a 41 

Kunihi  ka  mauna  i  ka  la'i,  e 40 

Li'u-Wu  aloha  ia^u 39 

komo,  welcome  to  the  halau — 

Aloha  na  hale  o  makou  i  makamaka  ole 39 

E  hea  i  ke  kanaka  e  komo  maloko 41 

kuahu,  altar- prayer — 

E,  Laka,  e! 34 

Noho  ana  Laka  i  ka  ulu  wehiwehi 33 


282  INDEX 

Mkles— Continued.  Page 

kupe'c,  anklet  song:  Aala  kupukupu  ha  uka  o  Kanehoa 49 

of  Hiiaka:  Le'a  wale  hoi  ka  ivdhine  limalima  ole,  wawae  ole 212 

of  Mana-mana-ia-kaluea:  Ke  lei  mai  la  o  Kaula  i  ke  kai  e-e! 212 

oli— 

for  the  hula  pua'n:  Ko^i  maka  nui 228 

in  the  game  of  kilu:  A  uweuwe  ke  ko'e  a  ke  kae 240 

set  to  music — 

XI:  A  e  ho'i  ke  aloha  i  ka  inawae 167 

VIII :  Aia  i  WaipVo  Paka'alana 162 

IX:  Aloha  wale  oe 164 

VII :  Halau  Ilanalei  i  ka  nini  c  /aua 156 

XIV:  Hawaii  ponoi 172 

X:  He  aloha  wau  ia  oe 166 

XIII :  0  ka  ponaha  iho  ake  a) 169 

XII :   Ua  like  no  a  like 168 

to  Kaukini :  Ike  ia  Kaukini,  he  lawaia  manu  (note) 51 

Melody  of  Hawaiian  song 170 

Methinks  it  is  you,  leaf  plucked  from  Love's  tree:  song  for  hula  pa-ijAi 83 

Mimetic  gesture 178 

Mistaken  views  about  the  Ilawaiians 262 

Misty  and  dim,  a  bush  in  the  wilds  of  Kapa'a:  song  for  hula  k.li: 237 

Motion,  illustrated  by  gesture 178 

Musical  instruments 140 

influence  on  a  hula  performance 113 

the  kaekeeke 122 

the  pu-la-i 147 

the  ukeke 149 

Musical  selections — 

I :  range  of  the  nose-flnte 146 

II :  from  the  nose-flute 146 

III :  the  ukeke  as  played  by  Keaonaloa 149 

IV:  song  from  the  hula  pa'i-umauma 153 

V:  song  from  the  hula  pa-ipu 153 

VI:  song  from  the  hula  Pele '.  154 

VII :  oli  and  mele  from  the  hula  ala 'a- papa 156 

VIII :  lie  inoa  no  Kamehameha 162 

IX:  song,  Poll  anuanu:  Aloha  irale  cr 164 

X :  song,  Ilua-hua^i 166 

XI :  song,  Ka  Maxvae 167 

XII :  song,  lAke  no  a  Like '. 168 

XIII:  song,  Pili-aoao 169 

XIV:  Hawaiian  National  Hymn,  Ilairaii  Ponoi 172 

Music  and  poetry,  Hawaiian—  their  relation 161 

Music  of  the  Hawaiian» 138-140 

cadence 140 

l)hrasing r 140 

rh  ythm '. 160 

under  foreign  influences 163 

vocal  execution 139 

M'kTH  about  Kumu-kahi  (note) 197 

Mythical  shark,  Papi'o  (note) 206 

Name-8on(j  of  Kamehameha:  In  Waipio stands  Pa  ka'alana 163 

of  Naihe:  The  huge  roller,  roller  that  surges  from  Kona 36 


INDEX  283 

National  hymn  of  Hawaii —  Page 

translation 175 

with  music  XIV -  --. 172 

Na-u,  a  game  (note) 118 

NiAU-KANi,  a  musical  instrument 132 

NiHEu,  mythological  character  (note) 194 

NiHI-AUMOE -'.  91 

NoHO  ANA  Laka  i  ka  ulu  wehiwehi:  altar-prayer 33 

NoLUNA  Jca  hale  kai,  e  ka  ma'alewa — 

mele  for  the  hula  aWa-papa 63 

mele  with  music  VII 155 

Nose-flute 135, 145 

music  from,  II 146 

remarks  on,  by  Jennie  Eisner 146 

Nou  PAHA  E,  ka  inoa :  mele  for  the  hula  Pele 200 

Now  FOR  THE  DANCE,  dauco  in  accord:  song  for  the  hula  IVi 98 

Now,  Kane,  approach,  illumine  the  altar:  altar-prayer  to  Kane  and  Kapo. . .  45 

Now  WRIGGLES  THE  WORM  to  its  goal :  song  in  the  game  of  kilu 240 

Obstacle,  an,  illustrated  by  gesture 177 

O  EwA,  aina  kai  ula  i  ka  lepo :  mele  for  the  hula  pa-ipu 84 

O  GODDESS  Laka  ! :  altar-prayer 34 

Ohe  hano-ihu,  the  nose-flute 135, 145, 146 

O  HiLO  OE,  Hilo,  muliwai  a  kauai  ka  lani:  mele  for  the  hula  pahu 104 

Oh  Wewehi,  la,  la! :  song  for  the  hula  ki'i 95 

Oh  wildwood  bouquet.  Oh  Laka — 

tabu-removing  prayer  at  graduation 32 

tabu-removing  prayer  at  intermission 128 

O  Kalakaua,  he  inoa:  mele  for  the  hula  ka-laau 117 

O  KA  ponaha  iho  a  ke  ao:  song  with  music  XIII 169 

O  Keawe-ula-i-ka-lani:  old  mele  apropos  of  Keawe  (note) 74 

0  Laka  oe  :  altar-prayer  to  Laka : 42 

Olapa,  a  division  of  hula  performers 28,  57 

Old  sea  song — 

Blow,  blow,  thou  wind  of  Hilo !  (note) 65 

Pa  mai,  pa  mai  (note) 65 

Old  song:  Keawe,  the  red  blush  of  dawn  (note) 74 

Olelo  huna,  secret  talk 97 

Oli  and  mele — 

dividing  line  between 254 

from  the  hula  aWa-papa,  music  VII 156 

Oli  lei:  Ke  lei  mai  la  o  Kaula  i  ke  kai,  e! 56 

Oli  pa-u  :  Kakua  pa-u,  ahu  na  kikepa 51 

Oli,  the 234-256 

illustration  of:  Ka  wai  opua-makani  o  Wailua 255 

Oli,  with  music  VII :  Halau  Ilanalei  i  ka  nini  akaua 155 

Olopana,  a  famous  king  (note) 74 

0  MY  love  goes  out  to  thee:  song  with  music  X 167 

One-breath  performance 139 

OoE  no  PAHA  lA,  e  ka  lau  o  ke  aloha:  mele  for  the  hula  pa-ipu 82 

0  Pele  la  ko'u  akua:  mele  for  the  hula  Pele 198 

Oracular  utterance  of  Kapihe:  E  iho  ana  oluna 99 

Organization  of  a  hula  company 29 

Orthography  of  the  Hawaiian  language — influence  of  Rev.  W.  Ellis  (note). . .  72 


284  INDEX 

Page 

OuTsPKEADS  NOW  THE  DAWN!  song  with  music  XIII 170 

( )  Wanahili  ka  po  Ion  ia  Manu'a :  mele  for  the  hula  kVi 100 

Pa  au  I  KA  ihc  a  Kane:  mele  for  the  hula  pa-hua 183 

Pahu,  the  drum 140 

Paku  Keaau,  lulu  Waiakea:  mele  for  the  hula  pa-hua '. GO 

Pa  MAI,  pa  viai:  old  sea  song  (note) 65 

Papi'o,  mythical  shark  (note) 206 

Paut-singino  in  Hawaii — 

at  the  present  time 152 

in  ancient  times ]  50, 152 

Password  to  the  halau — 

In  the  uplands,  the  darting  flame-bird  of  La'a 41 

Long,  long  have  I  tarried  with  love 39 

Steep  stands  the  mountain  in  calm 40 

Pa-u  halaka,  the  (note) 124 

Pa-u  song:  Gird  on  the  pa-u,  garment  tucked  in  one  side 54 

Pa-u,  the  hula  skirt i 49 

Peculiarities  of  Hawaiian  speech,  music  affected  by 139 

Pele — 

relations  of,  with  Kama-pua'a 231 

story  of 186 

Perilous,  steep,  is  the  climb  to  Ilanalei  woods:  song  for  the  hula  kiclci 211 

Phrasing  in  music 140 

Physique  of  hula  performers 57 

Pi'i  ana  a-ama:  mele  for  the  hula  mu'umuu 213 

Pikaka,  e,  ka  luna,  ke,  ke:  mele  for  the  hula  kVi 96 

Pillars  of  heaven's  dome,  Kukulu  o  Kahiki  (note) 17 

Pitching  the  tune 158 

Plain,  a,  illustrated  by  gesture 178 

Pleiades,  the,  Makali'i  (note) 17 

Poetry  of  ancient  Hawaii 161,  263 

Point  to  a  dark  one:  song  for  the  hula  ki'i 97 

PoLi  ANUANU,  song  with  music  IX :  Aloha  wale  oe 164 

Prayer  of  adulation  to  Laka:  In  the  forests,  on  the  ridges 18 

Prayer  of  dismissal  at  intermission:  Ku  ka  makaia  a  ka  huaka'i  moe  ipo 129 

Precious  the  gift  of  heart's-ease:  song  for  the  hula  ku'i  Molokai 208 

Proverbial  saying  :  Unstable  the  house 53 

Pu-A,  a  whistle 146 

PuA  EHU  kamalena  ka  uka  o  Kapa'n:  mele  for  the  hula  kilu 237 

PUAPUA-KEA 91 

PuiLi,  a  bamboo  rattle 144 

Pu-LA-i,  a  musical  instrument 147 

Pule  hoonoa — 

at  graduation  exercises:  Pupu  ue'uire'u  e,  Laka  c! 31 

at  intermission :  Lehua  i-luna 126 

to  Laka:  Pupu  nc''uu'e^u  e,  Laka  e! 128 

Pule  kuahu — 

E  hooulu  ana  i  Kini  o  ke  Akua 21 

EV  au,  e  Laka  mai  uka 20 

in  prose  speech :  E  ola  iau,  i  ka  nialihin i 46 

to  Kane  and  Kapo:  Kane  hiki  aV,  he  maldma  ia  luua 44 

to  Laka:  Eia  kc  kuko,  ka  Wa 43 

to  Laka:  Ilaki  pu  o  ka  nahelehcle 18 

to  Laka:  O  Laka  oe 42 

to  the  Kini  Akua:  E  ulu,  c  ulu,  Kitii  o  ke  Akua! 46 


INDEX  285 


Puna  plies  paddle  night-long  in  the  storm:  song  for  hula  ala'a-papn 70 

PuNCH-AND-JuDY  SHOW  and  the  hula  M'i 91 

Pu-Niu,  coconut  drum 141 

Pupils  of  the  halau — dispensation  before  graduation 33 

Pupu-A-LENALENA,  a  famous  dog 131 

Pupu  we'uwe'u  e,  Laka  e!:  pule  hoonoa — 

at  graduation 31 

at  intermission 128 

Purification  of  the  hula  company 15 

of  the  site  for  the  halau 14 

Range  of  the  nose-flute 146 

Recitation  in  the  hula,  style  of 58 

Red  glows  Kala'e  through  the  wind-blown  dust:  song  for  the  hula  kiln 239 

Reed-instrument,  the  niau-kani 147 

Relation  of  Hawaiian  poetry  and  music 161 

Religion  in  Hawaii  somber 13 

Responsive  chanting  in  the  hula  ka-laau 116 

Return,  O  love,  to  the  refuge:  song  with  music  XI 168 

Rhythm  in  Hawaiian  music 160, 171 

Rules  and  penalties  controlling  a  hula  company 29 

Rules  of  conduct  during  the  building  of  a  halau 15 

Shark-god,  Kawelo,  a  sorcerer  (iiotej 79 

She  is  limed,  she  is  limed:  song  for  the  hula  hoonand 245 

Singing  in  ancient  times — testimony  of  ( 'apt.  James  Kin<>^ 149 

Skirt  for  the  hula,  the  pa-u 49 

Slang  among  the  Hawaiians 98 

Song,  Hawaiian  attitude  toward 159 

See  also  Hawaiian  song. 
Songs — 

apropos  of  Nihi-aumoe:  Look  to  your  ways  in  upland  Puna 94 

at  the  first  hula 8 

composed  by  Kamehameha  II 69 

divisions  of 58 

epithalamium,  for  the  hula  kVi:  Wanahili  bides  the  whole  night  with 

Manu'a 101 

for  interlude:  Kane  is  drunken  with  awa 130 

for  the — 

hula  ala'a-papa — 

A  mackerel  sky,  time  for  foul  weather 70 

From  mountain  retreat  and  root-woven  ladder 64 

Haunt  of  white  tropic-bird 67 

Heaven-magic  fetch  a  Hilo  pour 66 

Keaau  is  a  long  strip  of  wildwood 62 

Keaau  shelters,  Waiakea  lies  in  the  calm 61 

Look  now,  Waialua,  land  clothed  with  ocean  mist 60 

Love  is  at  play  in  the  grove 71 

Love  tousled  Waimea  with  shafts  of  the  wind 69 

Puna  plies  paddle  night-long  in  the  storm 70 

'Twas  in  Koolau  I  met  with  the  rain 59 

hula  hoonand:  She  is  limed,  she  is  limed 245 

hula  iliili:  We  twain  were  lodged  in  Waipi'o 120 

hula  ilio:  Look  forth,  god  Ku,  look  forth! 225 


2 86  INDEX 

Songs— Continued. 

for  the — Continued.  Page. 

hula  kaekeekc:  It  wa.s  in  I lamakua 123 

Kahiki-nui,  land  of  wind-drivon  smoke 125 

hula  ka-laau:  Kalakaua,  a  great  name 117 

The  cloud-piles  o'er  Kona's  sea 118 

hula  kielei:  Perilous,  steep  is  the  c limb  to  Ilanalei  woods 211 

hula  kVi — 

Let's  worship  now  the  hird-rat^e 99 

Now  for  the  dance 98 

Oh  Wewehi,  la,  la! 95 

Point  to  a  dark  one 97 

The  mountain  walls  of  Kalalau 102 

The  roof  is  a-dry,  la,  la! 96 

hula  kilu — 

Comrade  mine  in  the  robe-stripping  gusts  of  Lalau 241 

Engulfed  in  heaven's  abyss 243 

Kanaloa  tints  heaven  with  a  blush 242 

Misty  and  dim,  a  bush  in  the  wilds  of  Kapa'a 237 

Red  glows  Kala'e  through  the  wind-blown  dust 239 

The  sun-furrow  gleams  at  the  back  of  Lehua 238 

hula  kolani:  Lo,  the  rain,  the  rain! 217 

hula  kolea:  A  plover  at  the  full  of  the  sea 220 

hula  ku'i — 

Fame  trumpets  your  conquests  each  day 253 

How  pleasing,  w^hen  borne  by  the  tide 252 

hula  ku'i  Molokai — 

A  eulogy  for  the  princess 209 

Precious  the  gift  of  heart's  ease! 208 

hula  mano:  Alas,  I  am  seized  by  the  shark,  great  shark! 222 

hula  mu'umu'u:  Black  crabs  are  climbing 214 

hula  niau-kani:  Up  to  the  streams  in  the  wildwood 133 

hula  ohe:  Come  up  to  the  wildwood,  come 136 

hula  ohelo:  Touched,  thou  art  touched  by  my  gesture 234 

hula  o-niu:  The  rustle  and  hum  of  spinning  top 249 

hula  pahu — 

In  Puna  was  I,  in  Kikii,  in  Ila'e-ha'e 105 

performers 103 

Thou  art  llilo,  llilo,  flood-gate  of  heaven 104 

Wai-aleale  stands  haughty  and  cold 106 

hula  pa-hua:  I  am  smitten  with  spear  of  Kane 184 

hula  pa-ipu — 

A  burst  of  smoke  from  the  pit  lifts  to  the  skies 89 

A  pit  lies  (far)  to  the  east 86 

A  storm  from  the  sea  strikes  Ke-au 78 

Big  with  child  is  the  Princess  Ku 81 

Ewa's  lagoon  is  red  with  dirt .^ 84 

Glowing  is  Kahiki,  oh! 75 

I  will  not  chase  the  mirage  of  Mana 80 

Leaf  of  lehua  and  noni-tint 76 

Methinks  it  is  you,  leaf  plucked  from  love's  tree 83 

The  iwa  flies  heavy  to  nest  in  the  brush 76 

hula  pa' i-unmunui — 

At  llilo  I  rendezvoused  with  the  lehua. .' 203 

Come  now,  Manono 204 

'Tis  Kahipa.  with  pendulous  breasts 206 


INDEX  287 

Songs — Continued. 

for  the — Continued.  Page 
hula  Pele — 

Alas,  there's  no  stay  to  the  smoke 195 

At  Wailua  stands  the  main  house-post 192 

Bedeck  now  the  board  for  the  feast 200 

Behold  Kauna,  that  sprite  of  windy  Ka-u 193 

From  Kahiki  came  the  woman,  Pele 188 

Ho !  mountain  of  vapor  puffs ! 194 

Lo,  Pele's  the  god  of  my  choice 198 

They  bear  the  god's  ax  up  the  mountain 191 

To  Kauai,  lifted  in  ether 189 

With  music  VI 154 

Yours,  doubtless,  this  name ■ 201 

hula  pua'a:  Ax  of  broadest  edge  I'm  hight 230 

hula  puili — 

It  has  come,  it  has  come 114 

Malua,  fetch  water  of  love 115 

hula  ulili:  A  search  for  a  sweetheart 247 

hula  uli-uli — 

I  spurn  the  thought  with  disdain 109 

\\Tience  art  thou,  thirsty  Wind? Ill 

from  the  hula  pa^i-umauma — music  IX 153 

in  the  game  of  kilu:  Now  wriggles  the  worm  to  its  goal 240 

of  cosmology — 

Begotten  were  the  gods  of  graded  rank  (note ) 196 

Hanau  ke  apapa  nu'u  (note) 196 

of  Hiiaka :  How  pleased  is  the  girl  maimed  of  hand  and  foot 212 

of  Mana-mana-ia-kaluea:  Kaula  wreathes  her  brow  with  the  ocean 213 

of  the  tree-shell :  Trill  afar,  trill  a-near 121 

of  welcome  to  the  halau:  WTiat  love  to  our  cottage  homes! 40 

The  Water  of  Kane :  This  question,  this  query 258 

with  music — 

VII :  Hanalei  is  a  hall  for  the  dance  in  the  pouring  rain 155 

XIV :  Hawaii's  very  own 175 

VIII :  In  Waipi'o  stands  Paka'a-lana 163 

IX :  Love  fain  compels  to  greet  thee 165 

X :  0  my  love  goes  out  to  thee 167 

XIII :  Outspreads  now  the  dawn 170 

XI :  Return,  O  love,  to  the  refuge 168 

XII :  \Mien  the  rain  drums  loud  on  the  leaf 169 

Source  of  hula  songs 58 

Steep  stands  the  mountain  in  calm :  password  to  the  halau 40 

Stress-accent  and  rhythmic  accent 158 

Support  and  organization  of  the  hula 26 

Tabu,  as  a  power  in  controlling  a  hula  company 30 

Tabu-removing  prayer  at  intermission:  Oh  wild  wood  bouquet,  O  Laka !.....  128 

Tempo  in  Hawaiian  song 160 

The  cloud-piles  o'er  Kona's  sea  whet  my  joy:  song  for  the  hula  kalaau 118 

The  huge  roller,  roller  that  surges  from  Kona:  name-song  to  Naihe 36 

The  iwa  flies  heavy  to  nest  in  the  brush:  song  for  the  hula  pa-ipu 76 

The  mountain  walls  of  Kalalau :  song  for  the  hulakii 102 

The  rainbow  stands  red  o'er  the  ocean:  tiring  song 55 

The  roof  is  a-dry,  la,  la!:  song  for  the  hula  ki'i 90 


288  INDEX 

Paee 

The  rustle  and  hum  of  Hpinnin<^  top:  song  for  the  hulao-niu 2  19 

The  sun-furrow  gleams  at  the  back  of  Lehua:  song  for  the  hula  kilu j'.s 

The  wind-beaten  stream  of  Wailua:  an  oli  or  lyric j  ,0 

They  bear  the  god's  ax  up  the  mountain:  song  for  the  hula  Pele i.ii 

This  MY  wish,  my  burning  desire:  altar-prayer  to  Laka i:; 

This  question,  this  query:  song,  The  Water  of  Kane j'tS 

This  spoil  and  rape  of  the  wildwood:  altar-prayer  to  Laka 1!) 

Thou  art  Hilo,  Hilo,  flood-gate  of  heaven:  song  for  the  hula  pahu 10 1 

Thou  art  Laka:  altar-prayer  to  Laka 42 

Thy  blessing,  O  Laka:  altar-prayer  in  prose  speech 17 

Tiring  song — 

Lele  MahuHlani  a  luna 5(j 

Lift,  Mahu'ilani,  on  high 56 

The  rainbow  stands  red  o'er  the  ocean 55 

'Tis  Kahipa,  with  pendulous  breasts:  song  for  the  hula  pai-umauma 206 

To  Kauai,  lifted  in  ether:  song  for  the  hula  Pele 189 

Tone-intervals  in  Hawaiian  song 158 

Touched,  thou  art  touched  by  my  gesture:  song  for  the  hula  ohelo 234 

Translation,  literalism  in,  versus  fidelity 88 

Trill  a-far,  trill  a-near:  song  of  the  tree-shell 121 

TwAS  IN  Koolau  I  met  with  the  rain:  song  for  the  hula  alaa-papa 59 

Ua  ona  o  Kane  i  ka  awa:  mele  for  interlude 130 

Ukeke,  a  Hawaiian  harp 147 

music  of 149 

Uku-lele  and  taro-patch  fiddle,  used  in  the  hula  ht' i  (note) 251 

Ula  Kala'e-loa  ('  ka  lepo  a  ka  makani:  mele  for  the  hula  h'ln 239 

Ula  ka  lani  ia  Kanaloa :  mele  for  the  hula  kiln 241 

Uli-uli,  a  musical  iHstrument 107, 144 

Union  oei  similarity,  illustrated  by  gesture 178 

Vocal  execution  of  Hawaiian  music 139 

Vowel-repetition  in  the  Vi 159 

Wai-aleale  stands  haughty  and  cold:  song  for  the  hula  pahu 106 

Wanahili  bides  the  whole  night  with  Manu'a:  (epithalamium)  song  for  the 

hulakii 101 

Water  of  Kane,  the :  a  song  of  Kane 257 

Wela  Kahiki,  e !:  mele  for  the  hula  pa-ipu 73 

Welcome  to  the  halau:  Call,  to  the  man  to  come  in 41 

We  twain  were  lodged  in  Waipi'o:  song  for  the  hula  iliili 120 

What  love  to  our  cottage  homes ! :  song  of  welcome  to  the  halau 40 

Whence  art  thou,  thirsty  Wind?:  song  for  the  hula  uli-uli Ill 

When  flowers  the  wiliwili:  a  bit  of  folk-lore  (note) 221 

When  the  rain  drums  loud  on  the  leaf:  song  with  music  XII 16!) 

Word-repetition  in  poetry •'> ! 

for  assonance "t -~~ 

Worship  in  the  halau !- 

contrasted  with  worship  in  the  heiau 

Wreathing  the  emblem  of  goddess  Laka I 

Whkath-son(J :  Kaula  wears  the  ocean  as  a  wreath »'1 

XvLoPHONK.  the  Inau .  .                                 '•  '< 

Yours,  doubtlehh,  this  name:  song  for  the  hula  Pele -'"1 

o 


